Hot summers in Louisiana make for a hot real estate market. Historically, summertime in Baton Rouge has been a great time to sell your home, with buyers looking to get moved in and settled before the school year starts in the fall. Brandon and Cherith Craft of Brandon Craft Developments bring together their skills in construction, design and real estate to offer some advice on ensuring that your home is in tip-top shape for potential buyers:

Price it right.

When a home is priced right, it encourages a swift offer and one that is generally strong. When a home is overpriced, one of two things happen:

1. People will assume that you are unrealistic about what your home is worth, and won’t even attempt to make an offer.

2. People make low-ball offers.

Stage it right.

When staging your home for sale, you should make sure that:

1. It is free of clutter and extra furniture. You want people to see themselves in your space, and too much personal stuff and clutter make that difficult. Tip: Take a picture of the space you are staging and look at the picture to find the items that are out of place or cluttering it up.

2. Your spaces are being used properly. If you have an odd area that looks like you don’t know what to do in it, then a buyer may also be confused. Your Realtor or an interior designer can help you be creative if you need help finding a purpose for a space.

 Update it right.

This is tricky because bad updates look bad and may be worse than no updates at all. Consider hiring a professional to tell you what to do. They can help you with simple paint colors and light fixtures that look current. If you are uncertain about colors, a good place to start is tone on tone. So for a warm white-grey look, consider ceilings in Benjamin Moore’s OC 18 “Dove Wing” in a flat sheen. Then trim, cabinets and doors in OC 18 in a semi-gloss sheen, and lastly OC 18, 50% darker, in an eggshell sheen. The 50% darker will give a more interesting look, while not changing colors altogether.

 Photograph it right.

Hire a professional photographer to take pictures of your home. Great pictures can be the difference between that first showing or none. In the picture above, our Realtors Mallory Morgan and Christi Childs staged a party in the backyard of one of our listings. This helps a potential buyer to see themselves in the home.

To learn about the construction, renovation and design work of this duo, visit brandoncraft.com. For more of their advice, check out their last Designer Tip on creative construction here.