When it comes to the Oakland market, it may feel like an effervescent seller’s market because of the sheer lack of inventory. Take a look at the numbers: Inventory fell by 31% as of January 2018 in the Oakland County, where there were 7,300 houses and condos for sale in January 2017 compared to the 4,866 in January 2018. With an inventory drop that has lasted the entirety of practically a decade (we’re going on 7 years now), it’s no wonder that anything that’s being sold on the market at the moment doesn’t see it’s days for long as it gets swiped up by some hungry potential homeowners. In Oakland’s lucrative market, potential sellers should still be wary of the do’s and don’ts of selling their homes. Here is the number one FAQ that Brad Roemer’s team of realtors wanted to answer in order to calm your qualms: 

Q: My husband and I are hoping to sell our million dollar home come fall 2018. I’ve been doing my due diligence by reading up on ways to make my home more attractive on the market albeit the fact that the narrow supply of homes is already in my favour. I’ve read an article that tell us that sprucing up our home with pricey renovations and upgrades will not help us get our home sold.

A: Sure, the inventory of homes is at an all-time low since seven years. However, we must not forget that California’s homelessness rate continues to rise. I read a similar article of that nature recently in which the author had no relevant experience in the Oakland and entire California household market. The main fallacy brought by the author is that the sprucing up your home is not the same as completely redecorating it or remodelling. Most real estate agents will not recommend that you demolish your entire kitchen for the new, state-of-the-art appliances and woodwork. This is not the way to go as you will be spending a lot more for not a significant return. If you’re looking for ways to redecorate your home in time for open house day, you should check out my blog written by the Brad Roemer interior design at http://bradroemerblog.com/?p=64. Want to look like you hired an interior designer without the heavy price tag? You can be sure that we scouted out the best tips and ideas, such as adding more texture to your home with decor accessories such as throw pillows and rugs, or vases and light fixtures, or even something as simple as adding in greenery. Another tip that Brad Roemer loves to follow (something that he passed down to all of us real estate agents on the team) is to do the math every time you wish for a spruce up. Let’s say you decide to implement a $10,000 spruce up. Calculate the percentage increase this result in the price you sell your home for. Say it’s a 7% increase on a $1,000,0000, then that will result in a $1,070,000 listing. With basic math, you would be gaining $60,000 in the value of your home by a simple $10,000 sprucer-upper. Key advice in this case: Do your research in terms of cost-effective measures you can take to add some extra value to your home. Stay tuned for our next blog post as you may have just given us an idea as to what our next blog subject will be!