I would start with the 3 D's and move on from there. Here is a list:
- Disassociate:
As hard as it may seem it is very important to shift your thinking to this no longer being your home, if everything goes right it will very soon be someone Else's and the sooner you come to grips with that reality the smother the whole process will go. This first step will allow you to move on to the next one with much more ease and understanding. Rather than fighting the process you will be ready to embrace it and move ahead.
- De-personalize
If you take away most of the things that are very personal it will allow the visiting buyers to visualize themselves living there. If you have a room full of your fishing trophies it might bring you great pride and joy but it will not speak kindly to everyone visiting the house. It is surprising how many people can not see past what is there right now. In a moment of uncertainty such as we are living, many buyers will not move forward on a house unless they really fall in love with it and can see themselves living in it for a long time if needed.
You can leave some personal items and a few pictures here and there but the picture wall with 360 pictures that include your cousins prom picture, your nieces who are 21, first grade picture etc, that wall needs to be freed, pictures taken off and most likely will need a fresh coat of paint.
- De-clutter
I can not stress enough the importance of this one step.
I understand you are still living in the house and need to have your things with you, but if there are things everywhere, the message will be, this house is to small and It does not fit anything!
Also many people do not deal well chaos and it will make them feel uncomfortable just to be in a cluttered home, they might like the house but will leave with a feeling of not being comfortable there. You want people to come in and stay a while, the longer a prospective buyer stays in a home they are viewing, the greater the interest, you want them to come in, sit down in the living room, they are picturing their life in the home.
De-cluttering means, taking out a lot of the things you keep in the closets and kitchen cabinets as well, people will open them and try to see if there is enough space or if they seem crammed.
Sometimes the best thing to do is to rent a storage unit and start packing, you are going to have to do this eventually in order to move anyway, why not do it now and have the house show better, bigger more orderly. Kids can use less toys for a little while, winter clothes does not need to be in the house if it is 82 degrees outside, you get the idea.
- Make Repairs
If the front door does not open easily and it will take the agent accompanying the buyer 3 min to unjam it...FIX it! Otherwise people are stepping into the home with the notion that this house will need repairs right away and that it has not been properly maintained so there will be things that are not visible that will be in need of repairs soon.
There are many little things that have been bothering you but you just think they are not that big of a deal...they are if you don't fix them, they are not that big of a deal to solve so just go ahead and take care of them before people start coming to see the home.
Like with everything, you only have ONE chance to make a first impression, if a buyer comes in and sees many little things that need fixing they will probably move on to the next house OR reflect it on the offer they make, not the cost of repair only but the cost and the fact that they are willing to go through the hasle of fixing it. Even worse will be that the realtor taking this client who did not want to make an offer will remember the fact that the house had many issues to fix and will think twice before showing it to any other clients.
- Experience it for the first time
Try looking at your home with fresh eyes, start from the outside and go through it as if you were thinking of buying it. From the curb appeal and landscaping to the layout of each room. Curb appeal IS very important. I have had clients that will tell me the don't want to go inside of a home just based on what they see from the outside or sometimes I have seen clients fall in love with a home even before going in.
Can you change anything to make it more appealing even if it is less functional for you fir a short time? Maybe send some of the furniture to storage as well?
- Go the extra step but not too far
Sometimes with the best of intentions people re-do the house and go all out painting it and staging it before putting it on the market. That is GREAT, i believe in well done staging, but be careful that you are not going too far and making it a very particular style or use colors that will not go with most peoples taste and style. You would be limiting market and in some cases I have seen people de-clutter their home only to fill it back up with "staging" props.
- Price it right
You can do all of the above and still not get any offers if the price is not chosen correctly, actually you might go through all the trouble only to find yourself with very little to no showings at all!
This is where a very good , Honest realtor makes a big difference. You should talk to a couple of realtor's before choosing one but be very careful that you don't go with one because he promised you to get you more money for your home or because he quoted your home as being worth more.
The best one is the one that is willing to loose the listing for telling it like it is. Besides which one do you think will sell your home sooner? It is proven that the biggest chance you have to sell your home for a better price is within the first 45 days of the house entering the market, if you overprice it at the beginning you just lost that window because you will have less showings and will be seen as unmotivated and unrealistic to sell.
- Be Flexible
Be as flexible as possible with the showings. If you don't make it easy on people to see the home they will not make offers on it.
- Don't take it Personal
People have different tastes for everything, homes are no different. Some will like your home some wont.
And when it comes to low offers do not take offense, look at it, answer it and let it go. Now if you keep getting all this low offers it is time to re-asses your price, maybe the offers are not low but it is your expectations of price and your take on the market that is too high. Go back and look at the recent numbers in your specific area and take into account all factors affecting your home.
Ultimately the "Market" is the real determinant of value.
Please feel free to contact me for any questions or comments, you can find me on:
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HAPPY MOVING!!!
