Thursday, August 7, 2014

sold!

we sold our house.
oh yeah.
 
only took us 2 weeks.
in total, i did 6 house tours.
7, if you count two 6th grade girls hoping to talk
their parents into moving.
i did a few things to make the house seem a bit more functional and pleasant.
here are my top ten tips: 
 
1- took all my extra shoes and all my winter sweatshirts out of my closet.
it made the closet look organized and bigger.
i wanted to make it seem like we had plenty of room.
this goes for any jam-packed closet in the house.
de-clutter.
 
2- i put live plants in most all the rooms.
i think it makes it look more homey, green and inviting.
no to mention it helps decorate a space without 
making it seem too personal. 
it needs to look like a home,
but a home that could work for a number of people,
not just you.
 
3 - all of brette's extra things around the house were stored.
no highchair. no jumper. no babygates. no baby toilet.
the house looked ready for ANY family to move in.
not just one with small children.
 
4 - all bathroom toiletries were put away.
i have a basket of products i keep on the counter.
i made sure and stored that away so the
prospective buyers didn't think we were lacking on storage.
clean off your counters - - bathrooms and kitchen.
 
5 - i turned on every lamp in the house.
i think it makes the home look warm, bright and inviting.
lighting can really change the way a room feels.
 
6 - i wiped down the deck furniture and put out a few
outdoor place settings so buyers could envision 
all the fun outdoor dinners and deck parties.
your outdoor space can be just as important as your indoor space.  
 
7 - i deodorized.
not that i think my house smells,
but i do have two dogs running around.
i swept and vacuumed over and over, always
adding arm & hammer pet fresh to the carpet.
and then i'd click on my scentsy (orange scent) in the kitchen.
it smelt clean and the citrus smell makes me think of summer.
 
8 - i cleaned.
the bathroom fixtures were shining, the table tops were dusted
and the mirrors gleamed.
you want to make sure the house looks cared for and well kept.
 
9- i had ronnie make me a list of dates and specific upgrades.
people asked lots of questions and lets be honest,
i might be able to tell you when we painted
a room, but i don't know how new the water heater is.
that kind of stuff was always ronnie's job.
so i had two pages of specifics he wrote out for me.
i could go over our heating and cooling,
sump pump, roof, foundation, garbage disposal, appliances.
you name it and i had some info on it.
it made me seem super knowledgeable and probably
helped put any buyers' mind at ease with a quick answer
to any of their questions.
 
and last,
 
10- i made ronnie, brette and the dogs leave.
the point of showing your house is to make the
buyer think that it could be their house.
if you have your kids and your pet and your family
running around, it makes them feel like a visitor
when they should be envisioning their own life here.
sure, it was kind of a pain - - for ronnie.
he had to leave with everyone in tow and find something
to do for an hour, but i think it was totally worth it.
a couple times he took brette out for dinner, so
i put the dogs in their bed in my car and left it running with
the air conditioning on.
a little extreme, but louie would have barked his head off the entire
time and ruined the house showing.
 
so there you have it.
a little bit about what worked for us
when showing and ultimately selling our house.
 
now who wants to be invited to our packing party?
we only have a few weeks to get everything out.
i'm overwhelmed.


2 comments:

  1. Have you found a new place yet??

    ReplyDelete
  2. Congrats, guys. Can you help with mine???? Really that's great. MTC

    ReplyDelete