topic Re: Selling a Home in Home

Selling a Home

Mistreatedbycs — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 14:14:38 GMT

Selling my mom's house, what do I need to know or do??

(the obvious is contacting a relator)

any tips? house if full of furniture and everything else one has in a house, planning on clearing everything out.

Re: Selling a Home

151949 — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 14:22:11 GMT

I think the realtor you choose is all important. We did not want a soccer Mom who does this part time only during school hours - we wanted a committed professional. We went with a man who owns his agency and works there full time. He had 2 open houses the first week the house was listed - one for agents and we had to be there for that one - and I served coffee and cookies, and one for the public and we were not there but our realtor was. Actually the folks who bought came to that one. He showed our house 15 times in 8 days, so he was aggressive and the house sold on the 9th day. Also, listen to the realtor about the price you can expect to get. Ours was right exactly on the money as to what it sold for.

Re: Selling a Home

brii — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 14:24:10 GMT

Get a reputable realtor - even a soccer mom. LOL

Make sure your house is extremely clean and take away odds and ends and clutter. Make sure your agent is honest about what your house will sell for based on the comps in your area.

Re: Selling a Home

Mistreatedbycs — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 14:27:35 GMT

Thanks Happy Housewife...I will find the right one.

also, sorry for the misspelling on realtor...fingers too fast and mind too slow.

Re: Selling a Home

qualitygal — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 15:26:01 GMT

Awhile back I was asking questions on staging a home. I may be going through this eventually too. Dealing with selling a home. Lot of ladies can help on that here though.

I know cleaning the house is stressed uppermost. Had a realtor come in and tell us what she thought we should tend to, besides the obvious. If we have weather appropriate when the time comes, we may try a garage sale. I know there's things like painting, carpet cleaning, hard wood floors to redo. Some things will be updated and some will be as is. But I do have some books so if I want to stage the home for selling, I can, or have a realtor's help on that, or even some people do staging for a living.

You may find some things that were real helpful to me to learn about on past discussions. If you can search, I think my questions were under "staging homes for sale" or something on that line. If I find it, I will let you know. Found it under, "staging a home". Good luck.

Pintrest, even has some things on it. But there's books on it too. On line, you won't need to buy any books. Maybe even, your local library.

Re: Selling a Home

millieshops — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 16:02:16 GMT

Unless the house is in bad condition, I'd use more sweat equity than anything else. Clean clutter and get rid of superfluous furniture, clothing, papers, but leave enough so the house is inviting if possible. Plant season-appropriate flowers (or pots) for curb appeal - and yes, set a reasonable price with the aid of your realtor. Price and timing are really important.

Realtors can't manufacture buyers, but busy realtors almost always have way more contacts than new ones or very small agencies. When you interview to find yours, try to sign with someone who has been selling recently in your locality and in your price range.

If your mother's house is in an area covered by realtor.com, I'd look there to see what's for sale right now (that's your competition) and also look at what sold within the past 6 months (that will help you decide on a price).

Good luck - you have a big job to do.

Re: Selling a Home

TootyJane — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 16:40:30 GMT

Word-of-mouth recommendations are usually good. Personally, if I were in your position I would "interview" two or three realtors. Have them come in, go through the house, ask what you need to do to prepare the house for sale and ask how they will market it. Then go with the one that you feel is the right fit. Hope this helps and good luck!!

Re: Selling a Home

flickerbulb — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 16:46:11 GMT

Make sure you check out what picture they will post on the MLS. I listed a house and the moron took a picture of the dirty driveway with a car parked in it. He could have stood at a different angle and taken a more flattering picture. I got rid of the realtor, cleaned the driveway, car is gone and looking for a more competent realtor.

Re: Selling a Home

Ibby114 — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 16:57:13 GMT

You can read on line about 'staging' a house for sale. Lots of the fixer upper type shows talk about this as well- you don't want decluttered to the point of being bare. But you don't want it having personal mementos either, the house needs to feel like a home to those families house hunting. Very interesting psychology behind staging a home for sale!

Re: Selling a Home

IamMrsG — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 17:04:22 GMT

Nantucket, we sold our parents' fully furnished home a few years ago, and I learned two lessons from the experience:

1. Heed the advice of the most successful local Realtor. Our house was in a small town, and, knowing his market, the small-town Realtor suggested a price we thought too low. So we went with a large-chain Realtor who set a much higher price point.

2. Traditionally, the first offer is the best offer you're going to get. (We learned afterwards.)

We had one offer for $5K below asking, but the Realtor advised us to turn it down, promising more. Six months later, when the contract expired with no other offers, we limped back to the first Realtor. He sold the house for cash in a matter of weeks. Admittedly it was for less than originally desired, but, after all those months of struggling to keep an uninhabited house maintained and secured, we were ready to face reality.

Good luck in your endeavors. The mantra that gets me through the hard stuff is, "This, too, shall pass."

Re: Selling a Home

laceymom — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 17:05:04 GMT

We sold our home, wow, almost 3 years ago now....time flies. We made a point to touch up paint, clean and clear out any clutter that wasn't necessary to every day life (we ended up renting two storage units). Also, try to tuck away any personal items, kids pics, diplomas, vacation photos, etc.. Try to work with the mind-set that, once the house goes up for sale, it no longer belongs to you. Potential buyers want to project their things into the home and it's tough to do do if they are staring at the photos of the grandkids.

Also, one thing my hubby and I did was offer a $1,000 bonus to the selling realtor and a 1 year home warranty to the buyer. The bonus is an incentive because it goes free and clear to the realtor who sells your home NOT to the listing broker and the home warranty also protects you as well as the buyers during the selling process so if you have any issues, they are covered. These are expenses that will come out of the final price of the sale so it doesn't really hurt your pocket book.

I would also check with the Township and see if there is any exterior things that need to be done (repairing sidewalks, etc) before the house can be sold. You don't want surprises in the end that will hold up your sale.

Good luck!!!

Re: Selling a Home

terrier3 — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 17:06:02 GMT

This is what I did when I had to sell my aunt's house (not what they say to do, but it was effective)...

Her house was loaded to the gills with stuff. I did the best I could to clear away all her collections, and cleaned thoroughly, but then we had the realtor position it this way:

This is an estate sale. The owner died suddenly. We wanted you (prospective buyers) to get a chance to be one of the first to see it...before we go through staging and take photos for the listing. We think it is priced right and will sell fast...so if you really want it - bid NOW before it hits the newspaper. If the price is acceptable to the estate, we can work out what furnishings you would like to keep or have removed.

We ended up getting five formal bids in the first 3 days. We accepted the bid of a 55 year old bachelor who wanted all the furniture and items we were leaving behind. The house was mid century modern from 1960 with many built in Danish modern modular pieces. He paid full price and even wanted the cans of soup in the cupboards!

When my mom passed, my son and I re-painted, emptied out everything, fixed up a lot of things - did everything the realtor told us to do, including baking a pie for the open house - and the house sat on the market for one YEAR.

Moral of the story - let people think they are getting a "sneak peak" and have to move fast!

Re: Selling a Home

Marsha2003 — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 17:13:05 GMT

So much is dependent on what is normal in your market; that's why a good local realtor is important. They know what type of buyer will likely be looking at the house and what condition that type of buyer in that area is most likely to buy. Find a realtor and have them do a market analysis and have an honest conversation with you about what needs to be done before you spend a lot of time on the project.

Re: Selling a Home

Ibby114 — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 17:16:58 GMT

On 7/16/2014 terrier3 said:
This is what I did when I had to sell my aunt's house (not what they say to do, but it was effective)...

Her house was loaded to the gills with stuff. I did the best I could to clear away all her collections, and cleaned thoroughly, but then we had the realtor position it this way:

This is an estate sale. The owner died suddenly. We wanted you (prospective buyers) to get a chance to be one of the first to see it...before we go through staging and take photos for the listing. We think it is priced right and will sell fast...so if you really want it - bid NOW before it hits the newspaper. If the price is acceptable to the estate, we can work out what furnishings you would like to keep or have removed.

We ended up getting five formal bids in the first 3 days. We accepted the bid of a 55 year old bachelor who wanted all the furniture and items we were leaving behind. The house was mid century modern from 1960 with many built in Danish modern modular pieces. He paid full price and even wanted the cans of soup in the cupboards!

When my mom passed, my son and I re-painted, emptied out everything, fixed up a lot of things - did everything the realtor told us to do, including baking a pie for the open house - and the house sat on the market for one YEAR.

Moral of the story - let people think they are getting a "sneak peak" and have to move fast!

Interesting - build the hype jsut like they do HERE! .

Re: Selling a Home

151949 — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 17:25:27 GMT

Another thing - our realtor put in our contract that if the house was sold through another agency the fee would be 6 % but if he sold it through his agency it would only be 5 % - we lucked out and he sold it through his agency, which saved us $1750.

Re: Selling a Home

terrier3 — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 17:33:37 GMT

I think people realize that estate sales are different from sales with families moving into other homes.

I wouldn't go nuts. People like to feel "special" and they are among the first to get a chance to bid. I guess I must have learned that from the Q!!!!

If you don't get any bids from letting people in early, you can always have the realtor tell you their feedback and can then make repairs, do adjustments based on why they said they didn't want to place an offer. You have nothing to lose!

Here is the listing for my aunt's house...you can see all the furnishings we had in the home. The house was sold BEFORE this was posted on Zillow. Note how we said we would re-do the carpeting...we never actually were going to do that. If we had a buyer that insisted on new carpets, we would just give them a price adjustment to reflect that they would have to do that themselves - let them think they were getting a special "deal". We gave the buyer a break because we never had to paint anything, clean out anything or do anything except hand him the keys! Hiring people to clean it out and paint would have cost a LOT!

We might have made more money if we waited longer - comps were about $10,000 more in that neighborhood. But I didn't want to take the chance of having it sit either.

BTW - I have been in sales for over 30 years myself (not homes). I have picked up some ideas over the years on how to position a product.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4626-Newton-Rd-Hamburg-NY-14075/30350732_zpid/

Re: Selling a Home

Jackielee — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 17:53:21 GMT

Before we even put the house up for sale, we had an estate sale to get rid of alot of stuff. It was great. He sold a ton of stuff, uncluttered the house, and made some money in the process. The people who ran the sale came in, went through the entire house and closets, asked my dad what he wanted and didn't wanted to sell, tagged everything and had the sale. We took out everything he didn't want to sell and moved it over to where he was moving. After the sale, the company actually had the house cleaned for him. The house was immaculate, even the closets. It was the best thing we ever did as garage sales , these days, are just a waste of time. Everyone wants everything for nothing.

Staging the house is also one of the best ides ever. It can really make a difference.

Re: Selling a Home

goodstuff — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 20:31:57 GMT

If you get a good, experienced realtor, she/he can and will guide you in preparing and staging the house to sell. Your realtor should guide you in what clutter needs to be cleared out, what decor needs to be changed or removed, what repairs need to be made -- and in many cases realtors have teams of workers who can handle repairs, staging, etc. Start by finding the best realtor for the job, and then follow his/her advice.

The last time we sold a house, the realtor walked through the house with us and had us take down heavy curtains, remove folding doors separating the dining room from the hallway, change out a couple of light fixtures, and clear out some clutter. Her repair team painted some trim, fixed a squeaky floor in the kitchen, and did a couple of other minor repairs. The house sold in just a few weeks.

Re: Selling a Home

ceekay — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 23:24:26 GMT

When my mom downsized and moved a few years ago and we sold her house, we got a home warranty. Her house was 55 years old and, while well maintained, it was severely in need of updating. Including all the appliances and HVAC. I think the warranty offered peace of mind to the buyer and as the seller it cost about $400. Well worth it. We totally emptied the house, had it professionally cleaned and it was good to go.

eta - she had been in her house over 45 years and it was alot of work to get it emptied and her moved.

Re: Selling a Home

Sweetbay magnolia — Thu, 17 Jul 2014 11:21:10 GMT

On 7/16/2014 terrier3 said:
I think people realize that estate sales are different from sales with families moving into other homes.

I wouldn't go nuts. People like to feel "special" and they are among the first to get a chance to bid. I guess I must have learned that from the Q!!!!

If you don't get any bids from letting people in early, you can always have the realtor tell you their feedback and can then make repairs, do adjustments based on why they said they didn't want to place an offer. You have nothing to lose!

Here is the listing for my aunt's house...you can see all the furnishings we had in the home. The house was sold BEFORE this was posted on Zillow. Note how we said we would re-do the carpeting...we never actually were going to do that. If we had a buyer that insisted on new carpets, we would just give them a price adjustment to reflect that they would have to do that themselves - let them think they were getting a special "deal". We gave the buyer a break because we never had to paint anything, clean out anything or do anything except hand him the keys! Hiring people to clean it out and paint would have cost a LOT!

We might have made more money if we waited longer - comps were about $10,000 more in that neighborhood. But I didn't want to take the chance of having it sit either.

BTW - I have been in sales for over 30 years myself (not homes). I have picked up some ideas over the years on how to position a product.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4626-Newton-Rd-Hamburg-NY-14075/30350732_zpid/

Cool house. Nice lot. Certain people like "different". Mid-century has been popular, too. Looks a little Frank Lloyd Wright-ish.