Stage your Hamilton NJ Home to Show Sustainability

After just writing a post on Mercer County NJ sellers reducing their prices to attract buyers, I thought I should offer some hints on how to showcase their properties when a buyer does take a look.  There is no question that Green is "In" and emphasizing the sustainability features of your home will give your property an edge.  Here are some sustainable staging ideas when you put your home on the market.

• Environmental friendliness: Conduct an energy audit of your home and outline the green changes and upgrades that have been made as a result of the audit’s findings. That can include basic changes, such as new caulking, insulation and lighting packages. It also can entail more substantial upgrades, such as new appliances with the Energy Star® label and the installation of a tankless water heater or an efficient HVAC system. Show buyers the potential savings and long-term benefits of all the green modifications that have been made.
• Highlight green features: Offer buyers a checklist of your home’s green features, along with the benefits that each offers.  Creating a notebook made of recycled paper or something with a green image that illustrates a home’s green aspects.
• Integrate green products into your home: Any cleaning supplies in cabinets should be green, and food on display in pantries should be labeled organic.  Buyers will open cupboards and closets, and these are subtle reminders you care about your home's energy usage. 
• Include a recycling center: The aesthetics of recycling bins have evolved beyond basic blue.  Make separating bins a sleek design element in a house or garage.
• Eliminate odor: That freshly cleaned pine smell that comes from commercial cleaners or that new paint smell often signals air that is teeming with unhealthy chemicals. Use green cleaning products and avoid any items, such as vinyl shower curtain liners, that emit an aroma.  You are probably accustomed to the smells, so ask friends or neighbors to help you with a sniff test.
• Go natural: Use living, not silk or plastic, plants. They have a more natural look and can improve indoor air quality.
• Upgrade sustainably: When you upgrade or replace items inside your home, use natural and energy-efficient products.  Consider Green with everything from carpet to
  bathroom fixtures.
• Enhance curb appeal: The perception that your home and you care about sustainability starts outside.   Consider plants, shrubs and vines native to New Jersey, that can thrive well without excessive watering or additives. Be frugal with planting large patches of lawn that will use water resources.  Highlight green outdoor features, like composting bins and rainwater barrels, and replace the chemical plant products with green ones.

This is quite a list, but even if you can accomplish half of them, you will help the environment, your community, and show buyers that you care.  They may not purchase your home just because of its Green Features, but it could motivate those on the fence to consider yours more seriously.

Let me know if I can help you make these ideas happen.

Joe Giancarli, SA
Short Sale Specialist
Real Estate Advisor
609-658-2612
jgiancarli@remax.net
http://www.joegiancarli.com/
http://www.njhomesource.com/
http://www.newjerseynewhomes.blogspot.com/
www.activerain.com/blogs/josephgiancarli