HomeGain.com recently conducted its third nationwide home improvement and home staging Home Sale Maximizer™ survey (previously conducted in 2003 and 2007) to reveal the top 12 low cost*, do-it-yourself (DIY) home improvements for people getting their home ready to sell.  Nearly 1,000 REALTORS® responded to the survey. (See complete survey results)

Thousands of REALTORS and Home Stagers use "Home Sale Maximizer" to advise their home seller clients.

Home Staging is reported to be the 2nd most valuable home improvement project to a seller when it comes to selling a home by return on investment (ROI), according to surveyed Realtors.

Home Staging is also the 3rd highest price increase to a home’s resale value ($300 cost / $1,780 price increase to a home’s selling price, which is a 586% ROI)

82% of Realtors nationwide recommend home sellers do DIY home staging.

Staging has rose on the list of priorities over the years. In 2007 survey results, Lightening and Brightening had the second highest ROI followed by Home Staging. Two years later, Home Staging overtakes Lightening and Brightening.

How many Realtors recommend professional home staging the majority of the time? Continue reading this post

Due to popular demand from the real estate community, HomeGain.com regularly conducts its nationwide home improvement and home staging Home Sale Maximizer™ survey. Past findings from the survey have been a guide for thousands of home sellers in preparing their home for sale.

HomeGain recently conducted a new survey of top 12 low cost*, do-it-yourself (DIY) home improvements for people getting their home ready to sell.  Nearly 1,000 REALTORS® responded to the survey.

The top five nationwide home improvements that Realtors recommend to home sellers, based on average cost and return on investment (ROI) to sellers, are:

1. Cleaning and de-cluttering ($200 cost / $1,700 price increase / 872% ROI / 98% recommended)
2. Home staging ($300 cost / $1,780 price increase / 586% ROI / 82% recommended)
3. Lightening and brightening ($230 cost / $1,300 price increase / 572% ROI / 95% recommended)
4. Landscaping ($320 cost / $1,500 price increase / 473% ROI / 94% recommended)
5. Repair Plumbing ($385 cost / $1,250 price increase / 327% ROI / 88% recommended)

Costs are averages and rounded up. For ranges of values, see chart 1 below. For actual price increase, see chart 2 below.

Cleaning and de-cluttering continues to  rank as the top suggested home improvement (since the survey was originally conducted in 2003). This low cost home improvement is recommended by 98% of Realtors and costs less than $200 but has a returning value of nearly $1,700 to the home’s sale price, or an 872% return (ROI).

“Inexpensive cosmetic home improvements and basic improvements greatly enhance the value of the home,” stated Carol Wilson of Carpenter Real Estate in Indianapolis, IN (AgentEvaluator member since 1999). Continue reading this post

Join us for a FREE, exclusive phone event LIVE on Tuesday, December 8th for the chance to interact with an exceptional team of real estate experts.

Here is your chance to ask a panel of experts within the real estate community questions specific to your own business. You can send your questions in advance, and ask more questions during the call!

Topic: “Gearing Up for 2010 – What REALTORS® Need To Do Now”

When: Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Time: 9am – 10am Pacific / 12pm – 1pm Eastern

Cost: None

Meet The Experts:

Eric Pakulla, RE/MAX Advantage Realty, Maryland

Expert For: “Mastering Internet Lead Conversion”

Mr. Pakulla is a multi-million dollar producer with over 15 years of experience in real estate. The Eric Pakulla Team is ranked the #5 RE/MAX team in the entire United States. Pakulla has received the most coveted awards from RE/MAX International: The Diamond Club and Lifetime Achievement. Pakulla is an elite HomeGain Advisor, HomeGain Blogger, an AgentView member, and an AgentEvaluator Million Dollar Club member.

Chris Tesch, ABR, E-Pro, RE/MAX Bryan College Station, Texas

Expert For: “Propelling Business Through Technology”

Ms. Tesch has over 8 years in real estate and achieves over 60 transactions each year. Tesch earned the RE/MAX Platinum Club Award in 2008. She is a member of many organizations including the American Business Women’s Association (ABWA), Leading Women’s Express Network (LWEN) and Cyberstar Professional, an elite group of less than 200 professionals worldwide that use technology to its utmost. Tesch is a HomeGain member of BuyerLink, AgentView and AgentEvaluator.

Patrick Kitano, Domus Consulting Group and Transparent Real Estate Blog, California

Expert For: “Social Networking Best Practices”

Mr. Kitano is Co-Founder and Managing Principal of Domus Consulting Group, a management consulting firm working with real estate brokerages and Web 2.0 companies to develop technology marketing strategies, and with venture investors on new business models. Experienced in four competitive industries – films, investment banking, internet technology and real estate – Kitano excels at advising Realtors on best practices for success. Continue reading this post

This exclusive real estate video features Eric Blackwell, Director of Technology at RE/MAX who presented a special session at the August 2009 HomeGain Nation Live Real Estate Forum in San Francisco titled “SEO Is A Team Sport”.

Did you put SEO or getting better ranking as a priority for your business this year? What is SEO? Why do search engines put some REALTORS® at the top of search results over others?

SEO is the role that relationships play in helping you get to the top — being “search engine friendly”. Blackwell explains all this and more for what SEO means to REALTORS®, and provides the basic rules of effective SEO strategies.

Watch the SEO TRENDS session video: “SEO Is A Team Sport”

Check back next week to see one more video from this 2009 real estate event, which is the “Trends In Real Estate Marketing” with power presenters Robert Hahn, Patrick Kitano, Jay Thompson, Joseph Ferrara and Louis Cammarosano!

Watch more HomeGain Nation session videos

Also see more HomeGain Nation real estate videos on the HomeGain YouTube channel, on the HomeGain Nation Blog. and in the HomeGain Media Center.

It’s becoming a popular trend to coat cars and SUVs with logos, website URLs, and other contact information. It could be especially valuable for REALTORS® since referrals and local exposure is so important. But some people love their car too much the way it is. What do you think? Would you do it?

See more real estate polls

This video features three highly motivated and successful Realtors® — Karen Breen Elia, RE/MAX Exclusive Properties, Carl Medford, Windermere Properties East Bay and Wayne Long of Shepherd Brokers.com GMAC Real Estate — who presented at the August 2009 HomeGain Nation Live Real Estate Forum in San Francisco.

Watch this strategic real estate video as they discuss their methods for effectively finding, connecting and closing homes with people through the Internet via HomeGain’s AgentEvaluator® marketing program.

Watch the AgentEvaluator session video: “Prospecting, Proposals, Pipeline”

Keep checking back as we will be adding more videos!

Watch more session videos

Also see more HomeGain Nation real estate videos on the HomeGain YouTube channel, on the HomeGain Nation Blog. and in the HomeGain Media Center.