1. It’s important to hire an appraiser familiar with your area. I had an appraiser from Balch Springs assigned to appraise my house in Bluffview/Shorecrest. He was lost.

2. More important than the number of square feet is how well thought out the floor plan is. If you have 6,000 square feet, but 3,000 of those are in the ‘big, grand’ but unuseable entry space, then you really have a 3,000 square foot home. Ask yourself, “How am I going to live in this space each and every day?”

 

It’s July and hot as hell in Texas. Agents tell me the open houses are not quite so open, and you even have to serve margaritas at the garage sales at seven a.m. just to keep people from passing out. So how to make your home appealing to buyers — and light — when it’s 104 outside?

If you have water features, focus on those. Make sure the pool is in great shape and stage a little basket of goodies, including a drink, on a floatie — Frontgate sells great pool floaties. (A model slathered in suncreen, the best — does she come with the house?) Roll beach towels on the chaise longues. Make sure the patio is flawless — no dead potted plants. You will have to open up the windows and let in light — but not if one window eminates heat like a hot coal. (Keep that one closed.) Crank up the A/C one hour before the scheduled open house — this is not a time to conserve energy. A hot house shouts loud and clear “HVAC problemos.”   

Last but not least: serve small, cute cups of chilled lemonade and offer chilled water as the potential buyers depart. In fact, leave a pretty iced container of water by the front door. I’ve heard of one agent who has even printed up labels of her listings on bottled water. Pretty extreme, but so is the Texas heat right about now.