Selling home

#1

Hi,
My son and dd-in-law and brand new grandchildcloud9 have to sell their home in Long Beach, CA and move back to the Boston area! I am excited because I live in RI and it will be great to have them back here and besides it is easier to knit for people who live in the cold!!
Anyway, they have had a few open houses, but their are alot of other house for sale in the area. They have it listed with an agent and they are not letting on that they are getting tranferred back here and really need to sell soon. Are any of you real estate agents when you are not knitting:roflhard: ? And have any advice or helpful hints to move along a sale?:?? It is a really nice home and they have it listed, pricewise, appropriately…

Thanks in advance!
Jen:knitting:

#2

We sold our home rather quickly a few years ago. Here’s what we did that our realtor told us helped with the speedy sale.

First, we repainted our home (the inside, including the baseboards). It was a ton of work but well worth it. I don’t know how old their house is, but a fresh coat of paint made a huge difference.

I cleaned everything, including sliding glass door runners and the blinds. I used a presser washer to clean our screened in porch and the concrete around (including the driveway). I also put down a sealant by the front door…kind of painted it with outdoor paint to match the outside of the house…making it more attractive.

I planted fresh flowers outside.

I cleaned out all closets and the pantry to make the home look larger. I have, in the past, stored things elsewhere…such as a family member’s home or rented a place for a short time. The house needs to be uncluttered and look spacious.

We also staged the house. We left place settings on the dining room table and staged the other rooms in the home. We removed a lot of personal items, such as photos and things. You want your prospective buyer to envision their stuff in the home.

We basically ate out nearly every meal to keep the house clean.

We also left ourselves willing to include some of the major appliances, such as the refrigerator and washer/dryer. That was kind of a pain, but because we were open, people knew we were willing to deal fairly.

Good luck, and congratulations on getting your family closer to you!

#3

We had our house up for sale, prior to the holidays. It’s on hold until spring. We’ve been our place for about four and a half years now, and boy with two toddlers, it sure is a tonne of work for repairs and such.

As Auburnchick mentioned, stage the house, like one of those showhomes you visit.

  • First off, patch up any holes and repaint definitely well worth it (that is what we did our thanksgiving weekend).
  • DECLUTTER & DEPERSONALISE - You cannot imagine how much stuff there is clear … in essence you are gonna be living like you do an a hotel.

Kitchen - remove any and almost everything off the counters, even the dishrack, clear counters equal ample space. If they have a cappuccino machine they can keep it there… just for aesthetics. If they need to eat at home put all dishes to dry in a dishwasher, if they have one.

Dining (if they have one) - They could put out place settings, fresh flowers in a vase.

Bedrooms - Make beds. In the closets clear out as much stuff as possible.

Bathrooms & Ensuite - Put out fresh towels, clear off the counters of everything. Wipe down mirrors, clean the shower/bathtub of any rings.

Floors - If they have hardwood, just to a wash up of the floors. If carpet, remove any stains (spot shot works) or rent a cleaner and get it cleaned.

Windows - Wipe them all down.

I kid you not, it is hard to keep the house in a showhome condition especially with young children. I hope I did not miss anything. Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions.

I wish them luck!

#4

Don’t forget adding aroma too. I read somewhere that the number one smell for attracting buyers is apple pie. I bought a bunch of these candles at Walmart and kept them burning.

And wipe down EVERYTHING! Make sure toilets are clean and FLUSHED!

The little things really do make a difference.

#5

and bear in mind the real estate market is really slow right now. I am hoping it will pick up by spring/summer as I hope to have my home on the market. As an avid HGTV/TLC watcher (while knitting of course) I agree with the de-clutter the house and rent a storage unit if at all possible.
When we sold my grandparents house I put cinnamon rolls in the oven as the couple came through to look at it and they later commented the smell flooded them with warm memories and made them want that home again feeling… all that to say I agree with burning candles to cover cat/dog/people smells.

#6

We did not stage our home like they do on the tv (to me it looks a little too impersonal for the most part), we did do some de-cluttering by packing up stuff we did not need for the next few months. What we did was when the house was to be shown, I just cleaned it real good, everywhere-I think the only place we did not clean was under the washer/dryer and I got that before we left the house. I left the pictures up, I felt it let the prospective homeowners know that a family did fit in this house and we did live there, (plus we did not have a ton of family pics on the walls), opened all the windows some if it was warm out for some fresh air, left all the lights on to make it look brighter and a little bit of happy classical mood music for the background. We we left the house for the people to look at, I took both the cat and the dog to make it a little more pleasant for them to look at the house. In the end, it really did work for us, the people who bought our home are a younger couple with 2 small kids so they really fit the house well. It did take us a while but it was right at the beginning of the current market in southern California, but we ended up getting more $ than is was valued at!

#7

Hope their house sells quickly, however, in 1989 when the housing market was as bad if not worse than it is now, we put our house on the market before we realized how bad things were going to be marketwise. We did most of the things that have been suggested. The house was freshly painted and spotless for prospective buyers to see. We put the house on the market in March. Got barely any action - certainly no buyers. This was in Manassas, VA which almost never has a problem selling houses. We finally switched real estate agents. The new agent had a buyer for us the 1st day he showed the house in July. I would suggest that if your agent isn’t getting any results in the Spring, switch agents. When there are a lot of houses on the market in a particular location, try to pay attention to which realtors are selling the most homes. That’s how we found our winner.

#8

Beverly, very good point about the realtor! I, too, had the same problem when we sold our first home. I wound up selling it myself by using open houses, BUT, I do remember on our last home sale having to hound the realtor to do more…open houses, signs, etc. The realtor should work for you, not the other way around.

#9

I would be careful about burning candles and such. My bro & sil bought a house last year in Northern VA. Before they found their house they went to a couple of open houses with scented candles burning. Their first thought was what are they trying to cover up? One of the houses was bought by a friend of a friend of theirs and it turns out had pretty major mold and mildew problems.

Another thing was they did a lot of their house hunting online. They literally looked at hundred of houses before ever getting in the car and psychically seeing them. Get good pictures of the house to go with the online blurb the agent will put up.

#10

Hi Nathalie,

Thank you for all of your good suggestions! I wrote my son and gave him some of these ideas. The baby is only 4 weeks old and their first one and they have just lived in the house 2 years, so thankfully they didn’t have any clutter and had, had the house repainted on the inside before the baby came and before they knew they would be moving! They also planted flowers on the outside and I told them to bake some cookies!
Jen

#11

Hi Dangles,
Thanks for your help! They just have the baby who is only 4 weeks old so they are eating out and she is nursing, so they don’t have too many dishes!
Jen

#12

Thanks Vaknitter,
I told them they should bake some cookies! Who doesn’t like that smell??!!
Jen

#13

Thanks Debbie,
I hope they get more $ for their home too, but they will be happy if they get what they paid for it!
Jen

#14

Beverly,
Thanks, I will keep that in mind, I hope that their agent is doing everything for them!
Jen

#15

Holly,
I’ll tell them that when they come home and start looking for a new house. Mildew, could potentially be a big problem. I would never buy a home without a house inspection, the money it costs is worth it.
Thanks,
Jen