Selling a Home

Finest Buena Vista Homes for Sale

Make your home warm and inviting to boost your home’s value and speed up the sale process

The first step to getting buyers to make an offer on your home is to impress them with its appearance so they begin to envision themselves living there. Here are seven tips for making your home look bigger, brighter, and more desirable.

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Step 1: Start with a clean slate

Before you can worry about where to place furniture and which wall hanging should go where each room in your home must be spotless. Do a thorough cleaning right down to the nitpicky details like wiping down light switch covers. Deep clean and deodorize carpets and window coverings.

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Step 2: Stow away your clutter

It’s harder for buyers to picture themselves in your home when they’re looking at your family photos, collectibles, and knickknacks. Pack up all your personal decorations. However, don’t make spaces like mantles and coffee and end tables barren. Leave three items of varying heights on each surface, suggests Barb Schwarz of Staged Homes in Concord, Pa. For example, place a lamp, a small plant, and a book on an end table.

Step 3: Scale Back on your furniture

When a room is packed with furniture, it looks smaller, which will make buyers think your home is less valuable than it is. Make sure buyers appreciate the size of each room by removing one or two pieces of furniture. If you have an eat-in dining area, using a small table and chair set makes the area seem bigger.

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Step 4: Rethink Your Furniture Placement

Highlight the flow of your rooms by arranging the furniture to guide buyers from one room to another. In each room, create a focal point on the farthest wall from the doorway and arrange the other pieces of furniture in a triangle around the focal point, advises Schwarz. In the bedroom, the bed should be the focal point. In the living room, it may be the fireplace, and your couch and sofa can form a triangle in front of it.

Step 5: Add color to brighten your rooms

Brush on a fresh coat of warm, neutral-color paint in each room. Ask your real estate agent for help choosing the right shade. Then accessorize. Adding vibrant afghan, throw, or accent pillows for the couch will jazz up a muted living room, as will a healthy plant or a bright vase on your mantle. High-wattage bulbs in your light fixtures will also brighten up rooms and basements.

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Step 6: Set the scene

Lay logs in the fireplace, and set your dining room table with dishes and a centerpiece of fresh fruit or flowers. Create other vignettes throughout the home — such as a chess game in progress — to help buyers envision living there. Replace heavy curtains with sheer ones that let in more light.

Make your bathrooms feel luxurious by adding a new shower curtain, towels, and fancy guest soaps (after you put all your personal toiletry items are out of sight). Judiciously add subtle potpourri, scented candles, or boil water with a bit of vanilla mixed in. If you have pets, clean bedding frequently and spray an odor remover before each showing.

Step 7: Make the entrance Grand

Mow your lawn and trim your hedges, and turn on the sprinklers for 30 minutes before showings to make your lawn sparkle. If flowers or plants don’t surround your home’s entrance, add a pot of bright flowers. Top it all off by buying a new doormat and adding a seasonal wreath to your front door.

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Step 7: Have the Home Inspected

In most cases, your offer will be contingent on having the home inspected to ensure there is no major structural damage or large repairs needed. I can help you arrange this, and you can schedule it within days of making an offer. If there are no major issues, the process goes to step eight. If there is, you can renegotiate your offer based on what needs to be fixed, or you can withdraw it.

Rick D.
Mark W.
Blake B.
Peter S.
Richard W.
Ruth Y.
Wilson R.
Peter B.
Dustin S.
Sue & Tom
Cindy A.
Carol Louise K.
Mike M.
Ann & Nick M.
Chuck F.
WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

We didn't even know where to begin, Julie helped us with paperwork, communicating with the seller, suggested lenders, inspectors, etc, and asked the questions we didn't know to ask!

— Rick D.

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

Julie is a true professional with deep expertise in the local real estate market. She's a hard worker who did her best to help us successfully find a home. I highly recommend working with her!

— Mark W.

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

Julie is a truly amazing relator who treated us like family. She helped us through every step of the home buying process with patience. Julie will go out of her way to ensure you get the best service possible.

— Blake B.

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

Julie works tirelessly to make sure that she does her very best for her clients. She also is very friendly and nice to work with. I would definitely recommend. She is a true professional and is a couple notches above what you would expect in such a small town real estate market.

— Peter S.

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

Since moving to Buena Vista, CO in August, 2020, Julie has helped us purchase two additional times, so we've done three transactions with her since meeting her. My wife and I both agree that she has served us with great skill and local knowledge, so I can only give her five stars and highly recommend her.

— Richard W.

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

Buying a house can certainly be stressful, but not with Julie on your side. She brings local knowledge, vendor connections, everything needed to make the sale you want. She is very professional and will make sure you get the property for the right fair price. She was a pleasure to work with. I highly recommend her.

— Ruth Y.

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

Julie always responded to us in a timely, professional manner. She moved the transaction forward to the satisfaction of both buyer and seller to the closing date. We listed the house in February and closed 8weeks later. Her friendly and integrous manner put both buyer and seller at ease. We would highly recommend her.

— Wilson R.

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

I worked with Julie to locate and purchase a lot in downtown Buena Vista. From the first moment we connected to closing on the property Julie was helpful, supportive of my needs and quick to get back to me with my emails and calls. In todays World I often find that is generally not always the case with many people you are working with to get something done.

— Peter B.

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

We were looking for land by ourselves for a while in CO trying to narrow down where exactly we wanted to end up. I first spoke with Julie once we landed on Buena Vista and she helped make the process easier. She knew of a lot that wasn't listed yet that allowed us to get a better lot for a better deal than what we would've found otherwise. We are happy with the experience overall.

— Dustin S.

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

Our sale involved real estate and a business. It was a complicated sale involving real estate, equipment, goodwill and stock. Julie was knowledgeable, professional and ultra-timely with responses. Her knowledge and experience are invaluable. We then dealt with Julie for a few purchases with a 1031 exchange. Again, her connections and knowledge were most appreciated. She is a class act and we would highly...

— Sue & Tom

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

We have used Julie and her office for several real estate transactions, including the recent sale of our house, all have been smooth and professionally executed. Julie and her team were great about taking the time to understand our priorities during the negotiation period. While there are plenty of real estate agent options in the area, few have the combination of business acumen and integrity that Julie...

— Cindy A.

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

Julie helped me through an extremely stressful personal period in my life, which included selling my home of 20+ years and finding a new place where I could start over. She was knowledgeable, professional, super responsive, and walked me through this first time seller/buyer experience with expertise but and, more importantly, compassion and kindness. She looked out for my best interests on all levels! I ...

— Carol Louise K.

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

Julie has great knowledge of the local real estate market. She and her staff are always responsive. They return phone calls timely. She is good to work with and makes the process easy. Julie is from the area and that is helpful in providing insight into local real estate conditions. For example, she was very accurate in assessing the market value of our home. The home sold within 2 weeks of the listing d...

— Mike M.

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

We enlisted Julie Kersting’s help after several phone conversations confident that she was a seasoned, full time real estate agent. As out of state buyers we were more than pleased to find Julie to be a true professional who went beyond the expected. She didn’t blink at showing us close to 30 homes [some more than once] during our 3 day stay in Buena Vista. And she closed our deal after we left with an e...

— Ann & Nick M.

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

I have been trying to buy the perfect property and home in Twin Lakes for years. I was usually too late or had other issues which caused the deals to fall through. Someone forwarded Julie's contact details to me in 2017. She found a number of properties, did the leg work, vetted the details, and provided prompt feedback. She was always fair and honest when communicating her findings even if it meant she ...

— Chuck F.

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Ready to take the plunge into a mountain property? Maybe a house right in town is up your alley? Contact Julie today, she is passionate about making sure you find just the home of your dreams.

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JULIE KERSTING

[email protected]
(719) 395-7840

306 E Main St Buena Vista CO 81211