When you have a home for sale in Santa Cruz County or elsewhere in the nation, you have to know the competition is fierce. Many home sellers think they have all their ducks in a row when a potential buyer comes to view the house, only to have a minor, forgotten issue blow the deal.

The Outside of Your Home
Your home’s exterior is the first thing potential buyers see up close. Online, you may have images of the front yard, back yard, kitchen and other rooms, but pictures can’t do justice to your home for sale in Santa Cruz County. 

To prepare you home for that first up-close viewing, here are 17 outside tasks:

  1. Power wash your siding and windows
  2. Fix broken siding
  3. Give the exterior a fresh coat of paint if it needs it
  4. Paint the door and…

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Selling your Santa Cruz home is a stressful experience for most people. It’s certainly not easier during the holidays, but selling your home during the holidays doesn’t have to be the end of the world.

Here are 6 tips to help you sell your Santa Cruz home during the holidays:

1. Decorate. Holiday decorations are beautiful and make your home look inviting, especially traditional decorations displayed tastefully throughout your home. Just keep the decorations simple and uncluttered.

2. Bake. Go ahead and bake your own pies this year. You’ll have your pies ready and fill your house with the welcoming scents of spices to entice buyers.

3. Create warmth. Keep the thermostat set at a comfortable heating level. Buyers won't stay in a house if it's cold.

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When dealing with a purchase contract for your Santa Cruz home for sale, you need to look in the actual print for a few things before you sign on the dotted line. Your real estate agent and/or lawyer will be able to point out glaring deficiencies, inconsistencies or other things not in your best interest. However, the more you know about the purchase contract yourself, the better chances you have of getting a good deal on your Santa Cruz home for sale.

Here are four points to ponder in your purchase contract:

Closing Date
Sometimes a buyer may want to wait a month or two before taking over the title. You want to check the closing date against your own schedule and make sure it’s acceptable. Don’t be inflexible.  In this highly competitive real estate…

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You know you’re going to pay a mortgage for however many years once you sign the paper on a Santa Cruz home. You know your agent is going to get paid for the absolutely wonderful, fantabulous job he or she did to help you find the home of your dreams. What you may not be expecting, however, are the closing costs.

The saying goes “nothing’s guaranteed except death and taxes,” but you can add “closing costs” in there. Now, I’m sure the mortgage was expected, and you don’t mind your agent earning a bit, but what the heck is this “closing cost” business? While the government forms explain them, they might as well have been written in chicken scratches; government lingo has never been exactly easy to understand.

Be Prepared to Pay
“Closing costs” is a catch…

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It’s a war out there. If you’re still sitting in your robe and slippers, sipping a cup o’ joe while you casually read the Sunday comics – with the absolute knowledge that your house is going to sell – you haven’t been paying attention. The percentage of Santa Cruz homes for sale versus qualified potential buyers has made this an extreme buyer’s market.

It’s time for some tough love, sellers – some straight talk.

If you’re not ready to do more than spruce up your lawn a little, you won’t win the battle. You won’t even win a skirmish. In short, if you’re not doing everything you can (or pushing your agent about him doing everything he can) to get your home taken off the list of Santa Cruz homes for sale, you’re not a motivated seller.

Motivated sellers…

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