This week we’re talking about giving yourself an edge when selling an existing house. It may be as simple as looking at your lifestyle choices as a homeowner. A few years ago Mary and her husband sold their ranch house. A potential buyer impressed with the butterflies, rabbits and birds in the yard asked how they had taken care of the lawn. “We had never put pesticides and chemical-based weed killer on our property for the 16 years we lived there,” she said. Their natural “green” yard was a benefit worth talking about.
One northwest suburban realtor sees potential buyers walk away from houses occupied by smokers. “The owners cleaned every inch of the house including all the fabrics. People still could smell the smoke.” She said smoke is the biggest lifestyle decision that detracts from home sales.
One of the favorite selling points at Newport Cove, a waterfront community of new custom homes, is its 100-plus-slip marina. Built for the exclusive use of the community’s 67 homes (and homeowners’ children and grandchildren). The marina extends along the community’s 1,800 feet of shoreline and fronts onto an eight-acre private lakefront. Newport Cove is located on Bluff Lake, one of the beautiful lakes in suburban Chicago’s Chain O’ Lakes.