topic Re: If You Have Sold A Home.................... in Community Chat

If You Have Sold A Home....................

CrazyKittyLvr2 — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 13:37:06 GMT

how much decluttering did you do? Did you just pare things down.

I know storage may be an issue, also age and physical limitations may prohibit some from doing alot.

I have been looking at houses online. There is a condo I like. It's empty which is great to envision what you can do with it.

Some places have so much furniture, knick knacks, pictures and just....stuff, I see one picture and discount the place,

One house was completely decorated for Christmas. Not just a tree, I mean every flat surface had multiple things on it. The dining room table had so many candles, little trees on it there was no room for plates and food. It's been on the market for months. The kitchen counter, the kitchen table, the windowsill over the sink. All covered. It looked like a Christmas Tree Shoppe exploded. You just saw decorations, not the house.

How much did you do to get the house camera ready so to speak?

Re: If You Have Sold A Home....................

germanshepherdlove — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 13:46:05 GMT

@CrazyKittyLvr2 wrote:
how much decluttering did you do? Did you just pare things down.

I know storage may be an issue, also age and physical limitations may prohibit some from doing alot.

I have been looking at houses online. There is a condo I like. It's empty which is great to envision what you can do with it.

Some places have so much furniture, knick knacks, pictures and just....stuff, I see one picture and discount the place,

One house was completely decorated for Christmas. Not just a tree, I mean every flat surface had multiple things on it. The dining room table had so many candles, little trees on it there was no room for plates and food. It's been on the market for months. The kitchen counter, the kitchen table, the windowsill over the sink. All covered. It looked like a Christmas Tree Shoppe exploded. You just saw decorations, not the house.

How much did you do to get the house camera ready so to speak?

I always kept in mind what model homes look like.

Re: If You Have Sold A Home....................

LilLadyNJ — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 13:54:40 GMT

When I sold my first home, i started de-cluttering early before I listed my home. It was easy to start doing it, one room at a time, because I wanted to be ready to move by the time I listed. I have moved twice since then and it was easy to get ready to pack and move.

Re: If You Have Sold A Home....................

NicksmomESQ — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 13:55:44 GMT

The fastest way to sell a house is to open up the space.It's best to clean it up & declutter. A coat of paint is helpfull too.

Re: If You Have Sold A Home....................

CrazyKittyLvr2 — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 13:56:27 GMT

@germanshepherdlove One of my friends from high school could have a realtor come on a moments notice to take pictures and not have to do a thing.

There is nothing on her kitchen or bathroom counters. The wall of shelves behind her couch has a few books and photos but other than that there is nothing sitting out.

It looks like a model home buth they lived there for 50 years.

Re: If You Have Sold A Home....................

scatcat — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 13:56:34 GMT

The realtor for the Christmas house must have told them to take it down. I wonder what the disconnect was

A family picture up doesn't discourage me. My mom sold her house in 1 day and had a couple pics up. And her house was outdated

I look past decorations to the bones of the house and location. Do I need to gut kitchen and baths? I don't care what their decorating style is. Even paint colors don't bother me - paint is cheap

Re: If You Have Sold A Home....................

Mominohio — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 13:56:44 GMT

I haven't sold/bought a home for 26 years, and back then in my area, staging etc. wasn't a "thing".

I am able to see the potential/needs regardless of what someone does to prepare a house for sale.

I think clean, fresh and neutral are a good idea, whether that means you need to re paint, re carpet or put in new floor coverings. I wouldn't ever empty the house entirely, unless we were moving already anyway.

For me a big thing is making sure the storage spaces are sparse and organized. Closets, cupboards, basement, attic garage. I want all of them to look like a magazine, not a stuffed mess. It gives the impression you don't have enough storage space when you pack those areas full, even if you do have lots of space, and just too much stuff!

I would declutter the decor a little bit, only because that is today's trend and what buyers want to see. My last house, we did nothing and it sold in 24 hours.

Re: If You Have Sold A Home....................

MamaWick — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 14:13:12 GMT

I personally love to see how people decorate their houses, and enjoy seeing photos. I can still envision what I would do. What I don't like are the wide angle pictures when I see listings on line. They are distorted.

Re: If You Have Sold A Home....................

CrazyKittyLvr2 — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 14:16:47 GMT

I can easily look past paint color, not hard to change. I've seen some really, really brightly painted room.

Multiple rooms of gaudy wallpaper, not so much.

Re: If You Have Sold A Home....................

LindaSal — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 14:26:57 GMT

We sold our home in the past year or so when we downsized to our townhouse.

Our realtor was helpful as she gave me a list of things to put away and pictures (of family) to take down. Our home wasn't cluttered anyway but there is a certain openess that they like to see. We had already started to declutter the basement however, donating and giving family members back the stuff they had us storing !! (never again, I might add). Anyway it certainly is a task and the stuff you accumulate over the years because you "might need it", take it from me, you NEVER need it........Anyway it is liberating to streamline your belongings and start fresh after so many years.

We are quite happy here

Re: If You Have Sold A Home....................

sydsgma1 — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 14:32:03 GMT

we recently sold our home after 45 years of living there. Because it is a buyers market here, our real estate agent tod us to create a model,home image. That meant total decluttering..we filled 2 dumpsters, repainting, selling a lot of excess furniture, removing carpeting and refinishing wood floors. With help from our kids it was a 3 month process. We also had to replace and upgrade appliances.

I would guess we spent about 6000 dollars, but recouped it in the sale.

so, my suggestion is that you engage real estate agent and be prepared to get rid of a lot.

A final note...we love living with less stuff.life is easier.

Re: If You Have Sold A Home....................

drizzellla — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 14:34:32 GMT

The end of June the house next door went up for sale. The house sold before the end of the day for $25,000 more than the asking price.

The house looked like it was staged. No personal stuff anywhere. The bedrooms had a bed with coordinating linens. There was a dresser or two and chair and nightstands. The child's room did have a few toys but not many.

The house is an open concept. And there was minimal furniture. I think the kitchen only had a coffee maker on the counter. Whoever staged it did a good job. It was spacious and comfortable looking.

WELL - the day after the guy bought the house, he turned around and put the house on the market for $50,000 more than he paid for it. And it quickly sold again.

Re: If You Have Sold A Home....................

Somertime — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 14:55:13 GMT

I would suggest taking pictures of your home, first, pretend you are the buyer. Do you like what you see? Remove what you don't like, reorganize your closets, take new pictures. If you are satisfied call a realtor otherwise, remove more until you are happy with the pictures.

Re: If You Have Sold A Home....................

hckynut — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 15:34:00 GMT

@CrazyKittyLvr2

Anything that even resembled clutter was out of there. My sis was a real estate agent and broker and gave me a list of "to do''s" to present my home to others.

She told me potential buyers can visualize their furniture better when there is less of the sellers taking up space. As you said: " it is better to envision". I kept our Townhome spotless and declutter until we were packing up to move.

She always told me to look at my home as if I were the buyer. Made sense to me.

hckynut 🏒

Re: If You Have Sold A Home....................

Kachina624 — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 14:59:09 GMT

Get rid of family photos and knickknacks. Fresh paint in a neutral color. Store big pieces of furniture as they make rooms look smaller. Make sure there are no animal odors.

When Dad sold his house, which had a small but efficient kitchen, the realtor told him to get rid of the refrigerator as it made the space look even smaller. Minimal furniture makes rooms seem larger.

Re: If You Have Sold A Home....................

Sooner — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 15:00:54 GMT

Every home sale is different. Sometimes it is a death, divorce, elderly person. Sometimes the seller lives far away and has no money, time, or ability to deal with what's in a house they have to sell.

Not everyone is able to redo a house or even hire people to clean or declutter it. Some don't have the money, time or mind to do anything but leave.

Home sales are often just something that has to be done. And some people can see through to what living quarters could be, and some have to have it done and laid out for them.

Lives are often what is instead of what should be.

Re: If You Have Sold A Home....................

BunSnoop — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 15:07:55 GMT

We moved into this house about 7 years ago. The day of the final inspection the home owners were having a garage sale - there was so much STUFF in the garage. I asked, where was all of this "stuff" as when we viewed the home it looked like a model home - there were hardly any pictures, vases, figurines, plants, decorative pieces, extra clothes, coats, etc. etc.

They said they rented a storage unit to put all the extra "stuff" in. It must of worked, as in addition to our offer there were 6 other offers to purchase the home - they did a great staging job and renting a storage unit for a few weeks was a clever way to not have the "stuff" been seen.

They said they also gave away a lot of stuff to the Goodwill store. They had lived in the house for about 40 years and had collected a lot over the years.

Re: If You Have Sold A Home....................

patbz — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 15:05:41 GMT

Over the years I have sold four homes; three were empty and fourth lightly staged. Last one was sold January 2019 and it was fairly high end for our small town. Some rooms were repainted, some flooring replaced, even small dings in cabinets were fixed. I had a gardner, so hard was nice and kept up. It was not staged, just empty.

Re: If You Have Sold A Home....................

ScrapHappy — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 15:05:55 GMT

Before we put our house on the market we put our dining room table and hutch along with my husband's "office" stuff (collectibles) in POD storage. We put the dining room stuff in storage because it was too big for that room, we knew that when we got it. For staging purposes, I went out and got a much smaller table and chair set. I took down brown wooden blinds in the kitchen, dining area and living room and replaced with shutters (like I had for the bedrooms). Wish I did that sooner. Also refinished the hardwood floors which I wish I also did sooner. The carpet that was in the bedrooms was about a year old and in excellent shape. We kept the house in excellent condition and it was very, very clean. We had an offer that we accepted in three days.

Re: If You Have Sold A Home....................

Sooner — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 15:10:16 GMT

@ScrapHappy That's the thing about keeping a house up and refreshed. So often if you don't do it along the way, you "get" to do it for the next buyer to enjoy in order to sell the house.