Past Home Sellers and Realtor Experts.... Best tips to Maximize Sale?

[s0me0nesmind1]

Hey folks -

Looks like we are taking the plunge and will be upgrading to a bigger house - and were pushing for as early as over the summer.


Few things:

When is the best time to sell? I've heard that (no question) the answer is Summer due to things like lots of families are between school years and are able to move schools during that time period. Is it worth hurrying things up to make sure we sell it over Summer?

What do you guys think is the best "Bang for your buck" as far as investment into fixing the house beforehand? Getting rid of stuff? Cleaning? Renting furniture/decorations to make it look appealing?




Which by the way - There is an absolute SHIT load of meager tasks that I can do around the house to make it appeal more to clean it up, etc... But at this point - I'm honestly wondering what is worth my time, and what is worth an actual investment. If doing this task doesn't result in extra money for the time worked, I don't feel the need to do it. Currently we have a toddler in the house, so finding spare time to get work done is VERY rare and very tedious. Below are just a couple items I can think of that could stand to get some attention.

If anyone wouldn't mind tossing in your opinion of what is important - what is not important - what we should do or not, etc... I would greatly appreciate it. We are going to be new to selling a home. Which by the way - on that note, from what I understand, our area is overall pretty hot. I'm seeing home sales within 2 weeks for the majority of home sales near us.


Throw tons and tons of shit away - reduce clutter, etc...
We simply have way too much crap in this house - and reducing clutter, donating stuff, and throwing stuff away is hands down going to be my #1 priority that will take up the most of our time.

Yard:
While our yard doesn't look great overall - we have some weeds I can dig out - but in particular my backyard is having trouble fighting Bermuda grass - so it's kind of a mix. I honestly don't have the time or commitment to dig that shit up and put in some more sod. Anyone think this will make a big difference as long as I just keep it trimmed? I would think the more major concern is having some nice fresh flowers in the garden and in the front along with some fresh mulch?

At the same time, we put in a semi-decent self made garden bed. I plan to mulch it up and toss in fresh flowers to make it look nice.

Touching up Wall-Paint:
Touching up paint on the walls is fine and easy - I have the exact same paint that the home builders originally chose, so it's easy to touch up spots, etc..

HOWEVER, we did do some painting around the house, such as the master bedroom. Do you guys think it's worth repainting the master bedroom in full?

Painting Trim/Baseboards, etc...
I would LOVE to just "touch up" these - but I can't for the life of me find the exact same white. Hence, if I "touch up" baseboards and trim, then I have to paint it in full. Not fun. Not easy. I learned this the hard way that it also requires at least 2 coats.

Dusting, cleaning extensively, etc..
We have a maid that comes every 2 weeks to our house to do the basics - including cleaning floors - basic dusting, etc... BUT there are some obvious things that she doesn't get to such as dusting baseboards all over and such. Is this necessary? Maybe I should do something like double the maid's pay and tell her to do a more extensive job that day or something? Thoughts?

 

[NutBucket]

Declutter is #1 and ironically the cheapest. There's no need to stage the house. When I see listing photos of a "lived in" house it just seems like the seller isn't even trying. Nobody will really care about the quality of the lawn as long as it isn't brown. Not with the money to redo it. Touching up the paint is good. Baseboards will always have some minor dings so I wouldn't sweat that. No need to repaint unless it is peeling or some horrible color. Finally, definitely clean! I've seen dust bunnies in open houses before, not a good look.

 

[herm0016]

de-clutter and clean are the most important. we have bought remodeled and sold a few over the last 5 years.

touch up the paint, and if its anything even slightly opinonating, get it painted barely off white. First impression is very important, if you landscaping looks like crap it will color the whole showing. Most people hate yard work beyond mowing and will reduce their offer based on that. fresh mulch and some annuals go a long way to improving the curb appeal. maybe freshen up the paint just around the front door, don't leave a pile of leaves and crap on the front porch/step.

put away all the little things on the kitchen counters, reduce stock of things in the cabinets. if they are packed full it says "this house does not have enough storage" get all the crap off the bathroom counters, same idea.

get your windows cleaned by a pro. seriously. you will be amazed at how nice the outside will look without all the crap on the screens and the inside will be brighter.

open all the shades before a showing or taking pictures. if it's summer open a few windows to get fresh air inside. its all about how it feels to them.

take pictures after you have done these things. and take good pictures that show the house, dont take iphone pictures of your shitty furniture and poo stained toilets. seriously, i've seen it in a listing. if your realtor takes bad pictures kick them to the curb and tell them right where to go.

i listed with a "friend" and it was a terrible idea. went back to my higher commission guy after a few months of the friends sign hanging by one hook all cattywaumpus and me telling him to fix it with no action. had one open house after that ( which the other guy said was a waste of time) and sold to someone that walked through the next week. I find most realtors are lazy idiots. find a good one, even if it costs more in commission and stick with them.

 

[LurchFrinky]

Definitely de-clutter and clean. You may have to de-clutter more than you like, because people will open your cabinets and closets to see how big they are on the inside. Also, some people are just nosy, and if they open your closet during an open house, everyone gets to look inside.

Do not underestimate good staging! You may think your house looks just fine, but other people will have different tastes and they may not be able to visualize living in 'your' house. A good stager will know how to make your house look more appealing to more people. This will not only get you an extra offer or two, it will likely make the offer slightly higher. Is Home Staging Worth The Cost?
They claim an average of 3% boost to a well staged house. Depending on the value of your home and the local market, this can be anything from 'not worth the effort' to 'I would be stupid to not do this.'

I don't know how you can check out your realtor ahead of time, but a good realtor would be able to easily answer all of your questions.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Declutter is definitely the most recommended here it seems. What I've started doing (myself) is packing away shit that I can tell myself "I have no plans to use this for the next 6 months minimum".

Basically a combination of packing ahead of time and decluttering for aesthetics at the same time. Seems like the most efficient - but one problem that I'm guessing is that I can't just shove these boxes into the garage or something. I'm guessing it's in my best interest to rent a storage unit in the meantime?

I'm also definitely going to be buying a bunch of brown mulch and summer flowers for the front and our back garden.




Also, any other tips? All are greatly appreciated. We will be meeting with the realtor Wednesday, so we will see. Looks like our area is pretty hot right now for quick sales/offers.

 

[K1052]

Declutter. Clean. Depersonalize.

The last one is often missed but basically take down anything that you wouldn't expect to see in a model home (family pictures, most art, collectables, furniture, fridge magnets, etc). Any bold painted walls should be redone neutral.

 

[NutBucket]

Better to put boxes in the garage than have the stuff on display. Most garages are kinda full of "crap" anyway.

 

[LurchFrinky]

Better to put boxes in the garage than have the stuff on display. Most garages are kinda full of "crap" anyway.

Agreed.
Unless your garage is a selling point, it is OK to use it as storage during open house. Visitors know that everything in there will be removed and they don't have to try and visualize what it will be like when they move in. Most model homes have the garage locked so you can't even see how big it is. They use it for storage and such.

 

[PowerEngineer]

All good advice given above! As I assume you are also starting to look at houses, you can also learn a lot from seeing how the houses you find attractive are staged.

I think you will find that most are completely decluttered, meaning minimal furniture (to make rooms appear bigger), half empty shelves/bookcases (to make storage appear more than ample), cleared countertops (to again make them seem spacious), and minimal personal items on display (to allow you to picture yourself living in it).

I would agree that it is better store stuff in the garage than in the house itself, but even better IMHO to also have a decluttered and spacious looking garage. It might be worth renting a storage locker for just a few months to store your "clutter".