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[Mistreatedbycs]

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.

[151949]

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.

[brii]

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.

[Mistreatedbycs]

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

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

[qualitygal]

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.

[millieshops]

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.

[TootyJane]

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!!

[flickerbulb]

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.

[Ibby114]

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!

[IamMrsG]

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."