Moving Up? Moving Out? Downsizing? Real Estate Notes from a Seller
Tips For Selling Your Home
Deciding to sell your house, wether you have lived there for 25 years or bought the fixer-upper knowing you would flip it in a year, might conjure up many unwelcome emotions and a pile of stress. I was little prepared when I decided to get my house ready for the open market. Despite creating beautiful, livable and personal spaces for people for much of my career, I felt oddly paralyzed when it came to my own house and prepping myself and my house for sale.
Once I got over the shock at the size of the checklist, I was able to lump the “To Do List” into a few manageable items.
To Do List – Selling the House
Take Inventory – look over all of your furniture and personal items and decide what you will keep (and move), what you might sell, what you can donate and what needs to go to the dump.
Clear Out The Clutter – I had great luck using Everything But The House to sell items that I no longer wanted but felt had value. They sold furniture, jewelry and even an old claw-footed bathtub from my basement. I highly recommend Habitat for Humanity for items that are good for donation. They pick up and they make sure items are sold or used and benefit their charity work. When sale and donations were completed, I found I still had a number of items that needed to go! I used a local clean-out service but I know that 1-800-GOT-JUNK is a national option that will come and take away all of your “JUNK”. I know it seems pricey but if you do not have access to a town dump that takes all kinds of bulky trash, it is money well spent to save your back and your sanity.
Touch up– hire a painter to come in and touch up your walls. Consider repainting walls to neutral colors or simply white. Obviously if your home has been professionally designed and styled, stick with the cohesive and professional look that has been created. If you have more of an eclectic hodge-podge style, neutral greys, beiges and whites with white trim is the best road to a clean and well organized look, letting people imagine their own life happening in your house. Some of my favorite neutral paint colors are: Farrow and Ball Matchstick, Farrow and Ball Joa’s White, Benjamin Moore Wickham Grey, Valspar White for walls. I think Benjamin Moore Decorator’s White or White Dove in High Gloss is great for trim and woodwork.
Repairs – I have a theory when selling a house that is not a “flip”. I think making minor repairs that help the house feel well kept, organized and clean is appropriate, I don’t think a complete kitchen or bathroom renovation is necessary. In general people want to do their own renovation, to their own taste. Most homeowners are not disciplined enough to renovate a kitchen with enough neutrality to appeal to everyone – so, best not to try. Save yourself time, money and headaches but pricing your house appropriately to allow the new owner to make necessary renovations.
Call in the Professionals – Now it’s time to get serious. Start interviewing Real Estate Agents. This can be quite a process. My advice is to ask everyone you know for referrals, read this helpful article from Forbes.com and when all is said and done you are going to need to go with your gut! This is one of your biggest if not THE biggest asset that you have, take the time to ask the questions, think about who you gel with and make the call. Once you have chosen your Realtor, you will want to consult with them on whether you need a Staging Professional or if you can just clean, declutter, fluff and hit the MLS. Another professional I recommend finding up front is a Real Estate Attorney. I think it is best to choose your own attorney in advance of the sale and not just rely on your Realtor’s suggestion at the last minute. Get recommendations from people you trust and make some calls to get an idea of costs and who you feel you can easily work with. You will have plenty of surprises on the house sale journey, your attorney should help you through them not be one of them.
I could go on for days with suggestions and links to articles that have helped me. My house is on the market and I second guess myself on a daily basis. Thankfully, I have a team of professionals and lots of good friends to keep me calm and listen to my worries throughout the process.
For now, I am crossing my fingers while keeping the house in an unbelievable (and unprecedented) state of order and cleanliness, hoping for a quick and lucrative sale. I will keep you posted!