Like, tonight.
I'm both excited and nervous. Happy and sad. It's bittersweet, ya know? We fixed our house up from top to bottom and built our little family there. We love it to pieces {especially now that it's completely renovated, right?} but it's just time to move on. We've simply outgrown it.
Our realtor is coming after work today. I found some great resources online, but I also want to hear from you, my lovely readers, as this is our first time going through this process as a seller...
So, do you have any tips for us? What things should we know? What questions should we ask our realtor? Should we try to negotiate the commission, or leave it as is? {According to reviews/recommendations, our realtor is pretty bad-ass so I don't want to offend her, after all, this is her living. But to save even .5-1% would help us tremendously considering that we're losing money on the house. Which isn't her fault either, so I go back and forth with this. Any realtors out there?}
Basically? HELP US.
I think I have it staged pretty well and now I just want to "depersonalize" a little bit more {why yes, Bob, I do think I'm on HGTV, thankyouverymuch.} I have things pretty much cleared out and stored away. Closets and drawers are organized, the house is clean, the kitchen counters are bare, for the most part {don't make me put my coffee pot away. Ahem.} So, I think we're pretty much ready.
And for your viewing pleasure, here's a picture of our house the day we moved in vs. a picture I took yesterday.YWIA.
Those shrubs! That awning! Those windows! Those shrubs! {I know I said that already, but they still haunt me.}
And here's Bob and I opening our front door for the very first time after settlement. {With his empty wallet, ha!}
I have an entire post planned for our "Before & After" house stuff, so stay tuned for that.
So, yeah. Wish us luck!
10 comments:
What is her commission? Here I wouldn't pay any more than 6%. Our house is on the market right now as well!! It's really fun to have showings.... with kids.... and leaving... and dogs... :)
I didn't worry much about cabinets and drawers. While there are some people who will look in them, it's irrelevant, cause obviously they will be empty when you leave. Keep baskets or lidded totes handy for last minute showings to throw toys into. Bathroom counters cleared of most everything.
NEVER leave the house and leave it messy. Because you WILL get a call while you are at Target, getting ready to come home for naps, and they want to see your house right.now. For serious.
I painted my baseboards and trim with a fresh coat of white paint. It was amazing what had collected there over 7 years... so that made it look 100% better and brighter.
I could go on...
Oh girl....my one piece of advice? Find the perfect house so you NEVER HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN.
But seriously. Clean. Clean again. Clean some more. Organize your closets. Get a storage unit and put all your unused stuff for storage in there (UHaul has Uboxes, similar to PODS, they are the cheapest, I did the research).
If you can, hire a stager. Ours was a gift from our realtor, but her charge was $200. Well worth the investment and I would have paid it myself.
And wine. Lots of wine. Its gonna be the most stressful and emotional thing you will ever do, trust me.
Good luck!
good luck mama! we are about to move into our new house...packing is a B! best to start now!
Those shrubs look like scary shrub monsters trying to steal all your sunlight. No sun for you! You want to look out your window. NO! :)
Best of luck on the sale of your house. I think keeping it cleaned and organized is the key, which you've already done. You are on your way.
If you plan to use the same realtor to sell and BUY the new house, definitely ask if there's any better she can do on the commission. That's what we did, and our realtor was willing. In the end it saved us some decent money! Good luck!!
If your realtor's office has someone who can stage your house, use him/her! It is SHOCKING the difference a stager can make.
Also, as the daughter of a realtor, I know how hard a good realtor works. Yes, some skate by, but if you know your realtor is badass, then don't negotiate her commission. It's the way she makes her living and she really does work HARD to earn that money. :)
Prayers for you girl because we just went through this and are 2 weeks into settling into our new house. Here's a few tips I can share from our experience.
1) I know you said you're looking at building, so if you can have your realtor represent you with the builder (most of the time you can FYI) then def ask for a discount. We bought and sold with the same agent so our commission structure was 5% (she took 2 % and the buyer's agent got 3%) but we also worked out that if she sold the house (as in she found a buyer for our house as well, and would thereby earn the entire commission) that we would only pay 4%. It never hurts to ask.
2) Especially if you are working with limited space, eliminate as much stuff as you possibly can. That includes extra plates, coats, DVDs, cooking utensils, bathroom products, EVERYTHING! You want every.single.area to look as large as possible. This also includes getting rid of any extra furniture. We ended up nixing 2 dressers, several little decorative tables/chairs and lots and lots of toys! (Bonus, you're kiddos will be thrilled when all their packed toys get to come back out. My son thought it was Christmas again when we moved, because we had packed so much up.)
3) Before you go to bed and/or leave in the morning, wipe down all countertops (bath and kitchen), vacuum rugs if needed, make all beds, and pick up all toys, mail, bags, etc. On more than one occasion we'd get showing calls during the day that wanted to come that evening or before we could get home. You want to leave your house "show" ready anytime you leave the house. This is a HUGE pain in the tush, not to mention exhausting when managing a household with little ones, but it will save you the headache of missing a showing because the house isn't ready.
4) Take REALLY good pictures at a time where the natural light is best. Your realtor may do this or have someone who does, but don't be afraid to take your own as well. Natural light makes the house look better and is a selling point for buyers.
5) Be sure to ask your realtor to follow up on every single showing to get feedback. Be pushy if you need to, but the feedback you get will be invaluable. Listen to it, and don't be offended by what you hear. Remember, these people don't know you, so it's not personal and can highlight key issues that you may need to address. For example, in our old house the living was small, we knew this, and kept hearing it from showings. So we took a critical eye and re-staged the living room by taking out 1 chair and replacing it with 2 smaller chairs. It made the room feel much bigger and within 3 days of doing so, we had 2 offers on the table.
Overall, good luck and try not to stress too much. It's an exhausting process and can take a while, but all it takes is 1 person! Also, don't be afraid ask a lot of questions of your realtor. Some questions to ask: how many properties have they sold per year and the average sales price? What kind of marketing tactics do they use to promote your house? How often will they host open houses? If the initial listing doesn't generate a lot of interest or an offer, at what point will they start considering a price reduction?
We sold our house last year after being on the market for close to two years. It was a LONG two years for sure. Always ask for feedback, but like a previous poster said, don't take it personally. It was really hard for us because our feedback was always good (except for our hilly backyard) and there was nothing we could do to make it better. So all we could do was wait.
As for the commission thing, ask if she is negotiable. Maybe discuss if an offer comes in way below asking price, maybe she could end up working with you, but if you get an offer at asking price, keep the commission at the current rate. She may have to check with her broker on that too, because they also get a cut.
Good luck. Try not to get too stressed out. We are so happy that the home selling/buying process is over and we are settled into our forever home.
I HATE MOVING. Did it in my share of apartments until I found the right house. We had 5 children, my FIL and a dog...so it had to be big...we found it and lived there 15 years. Did not plan to move but condos were going up all around us and they made us an offer we couldn't refuse..By that time we needed to downsize anyway. But I raised my kids there and it was bitter sweet. I am here at my present house 8 years and do not plan to move....but never say never. good luck
Good luck to you!!! I can't wait to see the before/after inside post!!!
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