House is on the market; now what?

Parent Cafe
1

My husband and I had always talked about downsizing once the kids were on their own; we are just getting to it after the last got married!! We might have done things a bit backwards in that we listed before cleaning out the clutter of 24 years; this includes furniture and belongings of both kids, my parents when they downsized 2 years ago, as well as my brother’s stuff. With an unfinished basement, we became the dumping ground for everyone; we figured it didn’t matter as no one saw it. Now, we are trying to get rid of everything we can, and make the house look like something it isn’t.

It is a nice house, but hasn’t been updated in a good while. It will show fine, or at least I think it will, but our agent is driving me crazy. She had someone come in and stage, or at least to the limits I would allow. Other personal things are going on, so trying to sell and show the house right now has been rather overwhelming to say the least. What I want to know from those that have sold, or even looked to purchase, is how much I really need to do daily when showing the house. The agent wants things to be put away like the drain rack, trash cans, Kleenex, dogs bowls, laundry baskets, the bathroom counter tops should be cleared, etc… I am not trying to be difficult, but we have two dogs, although with the number of toys, you would think we has a litter; do I really have to move their bowls and beds every morning before going to work? What if I forget to empty the drain rack and the coffee pot is still there; is someone really not going to like the house?

I leave for work in the morning at 7:30 after getting myself ready and the dogs fed and walk; I am not a morning person so not looking forward to getting up earlier than I do not to pick up. I of course can vacuum and straighten up in the evening, it is mostly the dogs things and making sure I don’t have laundry out drying on the rack. My dogs are great taking the toys out of the basket; I have yet to teach them to put the toys back. :wink:

How many of you would not be interested in a house because there was a bit of clutter out and about? Are you going to be turned off because there is mail out on the desk, or there is a laundry basket of clothes in the laundry room? If you see a trash can or a box of tissues, are you going to run from the house? If I forget one morning to pick of the toys, is that a turn off?

Sorry, this is more of a vent, but I am curious to hear what others think.

2

My real estate agent recommended getting a large Rubbermaid container to throw everything in at the last minute. It helped us to quickly get the house ready to show . That said, you’d be surprised what some people give as reasons for not putting an offer in on your house.

3

I can see past a lot, but when we were looking at houses - completely empty or stuffed to the gills was hard even for me to imagine. I would not be bothered by the stuff you describe. I would get a storage unit and empty as much as possible into it. We stuffed one to the gills before we sold our last house. We had two young children at the time so it was never perfect looking.

4

I guess I would only be really concerned if I was in an area where there were many houses for sale and I wanted my place to stand out from the competition. Inventory is low where I live and prices are very high so places are sold quickly for full asking price and above.

5

The last time we had a house on the market we had two teenagers, three dogs, four cats, and a guinea pig. My husband traveled and was only home on most weekends. We had made a request that showings would be with a 24 hour notice but that didn’t always happen. I made sure beds were made every morning and things put way in the kitchen. I didn’t worry about the dish drainer but made sure no dirty dishes were left out. We vacuumed almost every day and made sure if a showing was scheduled while we were at work or school the cats and dogs were kenneled in the garage or I brought them to work with me. It wasn’t easy and it took about 8 months for us to sell. We didn’t do any updating but made sure carpets were clean and that minor repair items were taken care of.

6

Last house that I sold was 4 years ago when my mother had been in assisted living for such a period of time that I was able to convince her that it was quite an expensive storage unit. At that time, I did install granite countertops in kitchen and baths and replace brass cabinet hardware. The new owners planned to do new flooring throughout.
More recently, DS just successfully purchased a home in the area after repeatedly losing out when homes were going for above list price. So, I see your point - it IS a seller’s market. If I were buying, I could overlook a little clutter if the location was right and I did not have to do major remodeling. Try to tidy up as the realtor suggests and your agony should be short lived.

7

Personally, I would not care about a moderate amount of “lived in” clutter, but if things looked dirty, or the house had an unpleasant odor, those would detract from the overall viewing. I tend to have a pretty good eye for design though, so I can see through clutter quite easily and imagine what could be.

It really boils down to the types of buyers in your area. Staged homes – and the level of perfection associated with staging – attract certain buyers more than others. Your realtor likely knows the local market well enough to know what sells well and what doesn’t.

8

What a difficult way to live! We moved out and had everything out of the house and had it staged so the experience was very different. It quickly got an offer. OTOH, when we looked at that house years ago to buy it, they had a laundry chute and someone’s underwear had gotten caught on a corner of it while going down and was hanging like a flag when we went into the laundry area! We still bought the house.

I’m glad I live in an area now where people always make appointments and the listing agent is always there. A bit less pressure when we try to sell.

I wouldn’t at all mind a dog bowl, dish rack, or other signs of normal life. You should de clutter though so that people can get a really good sense of the space, the flow between rooms, the natural light, etc.

9

I like the idea of the bin above. Walk around the house before you leave and know there is going to be a showing. I’ll admit that I am someone who would want to see as little as possible of your personal belongings. I have to imagine myself living there and MY things there - not yours! Just being honest! Of course you can’t empty out the house everyday.

10

We recently bought a house that wasn’t even that clean. I thought you had to do all this stuff to get it ready -but I swear half the houses we looked at just vacuumed and called it a day

11

If you are in a seller’s market, you can get away with a lot. But if you are in a buyer’s market, you really should listen to your real estate agent. Staging has been shown to positively impact sales, both in price offered and speed of sale.

You’re going to have to declutter when you move anyway, so you might as well do it now.

A lot of what is involved with real estate showings is psychological. They are not buying your furniture or your belongings, but how you present your house can affect a buyer at a subconscious level. When I see a house that is not picked up for a showing, or is not clean, it makes me wonder what else hasn’t been well maintained. I immediately start subtracting mentally from their asking price, if I even go there at all mentally.

12

I think a little depends on where you live. We sold two homes in TX and both were spotless for each showing, while our kids were still elementary school aged and younger. We moved to FL and some of the homes we looked at were just gross. Food crusting on the Jenn-airr, green pools etc. We bought a new build on that move.

I would listen to your agent. You are paying them a tidy sum to help you sell for the best price as quickly as possible. We have two homes on the market in our neighborhood of a little over 100 homes. One was staged with great photos on the MLS and it was pending within a couple of days. The other house has three pictures on the MLS, no staging and no traffic. It doesn’t have to be updated but it does need to be decluttered.

13

H and I were able to buy our first house in a strong sellers market because the bathroom was dirty and the toilet looked like it needed to be replaced. We bought the house when most other houses we looked at were sold before we could make an offer.

We got this house and it turned out the toilet only needed cleaning. Haha. When we moved, we sold the house in a week. Toilet was clean,

14

Your dogs can deal with one toy until the house sells. Yes, it is important. Bargain hunters can see past clutter, others can’t. Do you want top dollar?

Hints: use the dishwasher to hide all the breakfast mess. Dirty laundry into the dryer. Use suitcases to store off season clothes to make closets look more spacious.

We moved so often that my kids recognized three levels of clean - “clean”, “Grandma is visiting clean” and “Realtor clean”.

15

Our realtor called us “dream clients” because we kept our house magazine immaculate for showings and DH would always get out his leaf blower before showings. We spent 2 months de-cluttering and donating stuff to charity before we listed. We sold in 30 days during a tough buyer’s market-75K over bank appraisal. Presentation can be everything.

16

Smells can be real estate deal breakers. Make sure the house smells “clean.” No spicy food, no perfume, no pet smell. Mr. and I are shopping for a new place, and I noticed that he gets put off by smells. For me, cigarette smoke is the deal killer if the house is not a teardown. There are two homes in the area where we are looking that have not sold in 2 months while everything else went above the asking price in less than a week. I think I know why… One has cigarette smoke embedded into the studs, and the other has “old people smell” (Mr. B’s description).

17

Smells can be off putting, for sure. I like the bin idea. When we had our house on the market, we found these places to stash stuff: washer, dryer, trunk of the car, under the bed. It was harder when kids were young (try corralling a hundred legos with a moment’s notice!). IME, it is all about pricing and buyer’s market vs seller’s market as nrdsb4 mentioned. If you get an offer, here’s hoping they waive their financing contingency. Then it’s a done deal. Good luck!

18

@Bunsenburner - that reminded me of when we were househunting many decades ago. Went with a realtor who I clearly told cigarette smoke smell was a deal breaker. We went to one very cute house but the master bedroom reeked of cigarette smoke. Her response “you can paint it with something that removes the smell”. We stopped working with that realtor…

Good luck @snowball!

19

Didn’t read the other responses, but we sold our house of 15 years last spring. My trick was throwing everything that’s “out” in a laundry basket and then throwing that in my trunk. Actually alot of stuff got put in my trunk. :stuck_out_tongue:

We did do a big decluttering push.

It’s also going to depend on how hot your market is.

20

It would make a difference to me if all other things were equal. I’d want to view the home as I’d be living in it, clean, uncluttered and appealing to the eye.