Friday, January 28, 2011

Strategies for Discount Upgrades, Additions, and Replacements

No matter if you are a seller trying to upgrade your appliances to help entice a sale, or a buyer who just made a purchase and needs to replace or add items to make that house a home, you don’t necessarily have to pay top dollar. Having to make these expensive purchases can be hard to swallow after already investing so much, but there are deals to be had if you know where to look and how to ask. Below are some tips/strategies that have worked for my family in the past and hopefully can help you save some of your own hard earned money!
·         Appliances. These can be very expensive to purchase but can make a huge difference in the look and feel of a home. If you need to purchase more than one, ask to speak to a manager about a discount for buying multiple appliances at the same time. Just need one? Check out the floor models! When our family needed a new refrigerator we went to one of the big home improvement stores and we found a fabulous Whirlpool side by side. We inquired to the associate about it and he told us it was the last one. We asked if he could give us a discount for taking the floor model off of his hands and he offered 50% off! That $1200 refrigerator only cost us $500 and we even received free delivery!
·         Deck and Fence. If you find yourself in need of a deck and fence, gather estimates from a company that installs both. Kindly ask if they would honor a discount if you were to tackle both projects at the same time. This will save them time (and thus money) and you can reap the benefits. We are currently shopping for these items and have found many of the contractors will take $200-$500 off the price if we move forward with both projects at the same time. They both need done so we might as well SAVE!
·         Blinds, window treatments, and shutters. Many people don’t take into account the cost of these items and find themselves blindsided by how expensive they really are. But, with some planning and strategy, you can save BIG! We recently purchased a new construction home and thus all of the windows in the house needed a treatment. After some searching, we found one of the major home improvement stores was running a 20% off special on all Levolor blinds. We decided to purchase 30 blinds at the same time in order to apply the discount. We saved hundred of dollars in the store and then roughly $200 more when we discovered an additional 5% rebate through Levolor online! A little research can go a long way.
·         Delivery goofs and mishaps. Mistakes happen, that is a way of life. But  you can make those mistakes work in your favor. Spent the entire day waiting for the delivery crew only to discover they brought you the wrong item? Call the store manager and calmly explain your time lost and ask if they can apply a discount. When we had a slight debacle with the delivery of a stove, we called the big box retailer and explained our position and asked how they would compensate for our time lost. They responded with discounting that stove by $400! We ended up getting a fantastic product for a fraction of it’s retail price.
I can’t promise that you will have success in obtaining discounts from every retailer your approach, but I can guarantee you will not receive any if you do not ask. I firmly believe that you only get out of life what you have the courage to ask for!
Thinking about listing your home on the Henrico County Real Estate market? Then contact me, Shannon Milligan, at Home Sweet Henrico today!

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