As thoughts of spring start to creep into people’s minds,
some start to think about selling their current home. For some, maybe it’s time
to downsize. For others it may be time to make the move up from a starter home.
Whatever the reason for the move, most quickly start thinking about what they should
do to get their house ready to sell. Below are my thoughts on that, based upon
almost 20 years as a Realtor°.
Many people think that the time to sell is the time to
finally get to those major updates that
they have been putting off (for years). The short answer to that is DON’T DO
IT. While a brand new kitchen or bath will help the house sell faster and for
more, investing $30-40-50,000 in the house just as you about to move is not a
wise investment. Sure, you may get more than half of the money back by getting
a better sale price; but, who makes any other kind of investment with the hope
of getting just half of it back? There are much better ways to spend a lot less
and still help your house sell faster and for the most that it will bring.
The items that I stress with would be sellers are the three-C’s
– Clutter, Condition. and Cleanliness.
The first thing that I tell would-be sellers is to spend
time decluttering – getting rid of stuff that has accumulated in the house over
time. Most people have too much furniture, too many accessory and accent pieces
– just too much stuff. People who aren’t hoarders save lots of stuff because
they think that they may need it some day or that they will give it to their
children someday. I have news for you. They don’t want your old stuff. You may
have 1-2 items that truly qualify as family heirlooms and have enough real or
sentimental value for them to want them; however, most of your treasure would
likely end up in the dumpster if you suddenly were gone. Ask the family about
anything that you are keeping for that
reason and go ahead and give them the items now. Get it out of your house.
Clutter is a major turn-off for buyers.
The condition of the house is next. This involves getting all
of the little (or large) repairs jobs done. Most people get used to walking
past that missing electrical wall outlet plate or dealing with the missing
cabinet handle or pull. They are so used to seeing the chipped or dirty paint
on the doorways that thyey don’t notice anymore. They see the dirty grout in
the shower, but they just don’t have time to do anything about it. And those nail
pops or drywall tape lifts are just what it is. So they conclude that would be
buyers will overlook them, too. Not so! Poor maintenance is a huge turn off,
even on small items. The buyers make the assumption (most of time they are
correct) that if you haven’t maintained these small items, you probably let the
big things, like the furnace, go unmaintained, too. They thought is reinforced
if you also haven’t done updates in the last 10 years. In fact, the noticeable
lack of maintenance heightens their concerns about the lack of updates.
Once you get the first two C’s handles, take care of the
third “C “and give the place a thorough cleaning. Buyers will look differently
at some of the other failures of the house if they think it is clean. It needs
to look clean and smell clean. That may be hard in a basement area; however, a
dirty and musty smelling basement is a huge turn-off and can sink and otherwise
acceptable house. Cleaning includes doing something about that brown or black
grout in the baths and making sure that the tubs, sinks and toilets don’t have
rust stains or rings. Sometimes it is worth the cost to have a professional;
crew come in and deep clean the house. It is certainly worth having all of the
carpets cleaned. Also power washing the exterior, any decks or porches and the
driveway (if it is concrete) is worthwhile. You might also wish to hire a window
washing company to clean your windows. Do a good job on cleaning and you won’t
have to worry about burning a scented candle during buyer visits. Buyer tend to
think that you ‘re trying to hide something with those candles anyway. If you have
pets, the visitors should not be able to tell that you have them by the smells
or from pet hair all over.
So far, you haven’t spent big money and could, in fact, do
all of those things yourself. So what
about the upgrades – the new kitchen or bathes? Leave those for the new owners.
Yes, they need to be done and, yes, it will impact the sale price that they are
not done; but now is not the time to sink big money into those updates. You should
have always been updating your home as
you lived in it, so that you get to enjoy those updates. You didn’t; so, rather
than beat yourself up over coulda, woudla, shoulda’s, accept the fact that your
home is worth less on the market than it might have been worth had you done
them and get on with life. Your Realtor might still suggest a fresh coat of
paint for the interior, especially in high usage areas and maybe new carpeting
or flooring in high traffic areas. There’s a cost for that, but still well below
the cost of major remodeling.
Work with your Realtor to come up with the best price for the house in the condition
that it is in and then work to help him/her sell it for that price by keeping
an eye on those 3-C’s while it is on the market. If your house is priced
correctly to reflect its condition and the market in which it is competing, it
should sell quickly to someone who will come in and do those major projects themselves.
You’ll still have all of that money in your pocket and be ready to move on to
the next phase of your life.
Most good Realtors are willing to go through your house and
give you advice on the things that may need attention before the house goes on the
market. Listen to their advice.
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