House is on the market; now what?

Parent Cafe
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I actually put that same comment in one of my posts above. I asked if the OP was really ready to sell…considering she didn’t want to do much to actually get her house sale ready.

One thing to remember…we live in our houses and most of us love them. As an example, I have some stuff on my island right now. It looks just fine to me. But really, when it’s time to sell, that island will be bare.completely bare. I’ll put out of season clothes in my attic and the closets will look more spacious. Ditto things in my kitchen cabinets…they will go.

I’ll start with a dumpster. Toss anything that is even marginal. Then I’ll figure out what furniture really needs to be IN the house…and what doesn’t. What doesn’t will go into storage someplace…probably a pod. I’ll give away anything I really don’t plan to use again. My bookshelves…all the knick knacks will be boxed up…or pitched.

I want people to walk into my for sale house and say…“wow…this is so spacious and neat”…NOT “well, imguess there will be a LOT of space if we move the stuff off the counters,etc”.

I would urge the OP to look online for real estate pics of homes for sale in her area…similar to hers. She wants HER house to stand out from the group in a positive way!

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We sold our house in 24 hours. I completely de-cluttered, renting a storage POD and storing stuff off-site. We did have a professional stager go through the house and give us advice on what to do, which was extremely helpful. I staged the dining room and kitchen tables with china place settings and crystal, etc. and they looked great. I had a coffee ‘nook’ on kitchen counter with my Keurig, two brand new coffee mugs, and a small crystal bowl holding the k-cups set nicely in front of the Keurig. I cleared off all of the junk off of everyone’s dresser and off of every bathroom vanity. I bought new soap dispensers for each sink and new, fancy hand towels and bath towels that I swapped out for our normal ones when we showed the house. We always put all used washcloths, towels, bath mats, etc. in washer or dryer prior to every showing. We put all kitchen ‘debris’ away, including drain board, etc. No excess clutter on our countertops…all paperwork put away on kitchen desk top, etc. Every appliance, faucet, sink and flooring was cleaned prior to us leaving the house for showings. I went into each bathroom and did put toilet lids down and even folded the ends of the toilet paper in a ‘V’ like they do in hotels. (Yes, I know that’s extreme.) I even replaced the tired looking comforters on some of our beds with new ones that I got on sale and also either completely removed, or swapped out curtains that were too “colorful” with more neutral ones. (I got really cheap ones from JC Penney.) I bought new, lush, fancy, throw pillows for my living room couches which I got on sale at Pier 1 and which COMPLETELY transformed my living room. I was amazed at what a few throw pillows can do. The stager rearranged some furniture in some of the rooms and it made a huge difference. I changed out light switch plates to more modern ones, which was cheap and easy to do and really updated the look.

We had the house deep-cleaned, including having the windows washed inside and out. I left the lights on when I left the house and did remove and hide all dog bowls, dog toys, etc. All beds were made and all clothes and shoes put away. A plastic container worked well for housing the last minute stuff I wanted removed. I never left the dog in the house for a showing. He either came out with us, or else I put him into doggy day care.

I aired out the house every day–windows opened, etc. The house completely sparkled and looked so good–it made me not want to sell it! It looked like a model home and the prospective buyers reacted very well to it. My realtor received excellent feedback on the house and it received a lot of foot traffic. Though an offer was put on it within 24 hours, we still showed it for like three or four days before the terms were worked out and the contract signed. Yes, it was a royal pain in the butt to keep it staged-looking, especially with a young kid and a dog, but I wanted the ‘pain’ to be over quickly and did not want to go through showings for an extended time. So, my logic was to suck it up and put all the effort in on the front end to get it sold fast, so that I did not have to endure a lengthy marketing period.

It was a lot of work but it was very worth it. My best friend is an interior designer and she was in awe of what the house looked like after we got it ready to sell. I was sorry I waited so long to de clutter because the house was transformed when I was finished with it.

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I think that people have different “expectations” in a home. If you are not particularly into home decorating, new trends, are completely fine with your 80’s wallpaper, carpet and don’t really care if there are dust bunnies gathering around the woodwork or that the door knobs are 70’s brass, then you might see the condition of your home “lived in and just fine”.

A house and it’s environment is VERY important to me. I need light! Little clutter! Fresh looks! Knick knack free! If I am house hunting I know I have to look beyond some of that to see if I can pull the curtains down, refinish the floors, imagine it with less “stuff”. But as a home seller you have to think beyond what your wants and needs are - you have to either but yourself in the place of a buyer OR let a reputable realtor do that for you. Believe what they say. After all, it is in their best interest to get your house sold!

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We also had a large steamer trunk next to our exit door in our family room. It was a nice one with leather and wood trim. We tossed all gloves, boots, scarves, and other misc into that when we were having a showing.

For dresser tops, we emptied the top drawer to the dressers we were actually using…and just put the stuff in there. That made it easy.

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I will admit that when I read the OP’s statement below, I kind of wondered if that was the issue:

When you are selling your house, you have to look at it from an entirely new perspective: what you want no longer matters, because you are wanting to unload it. Now what matters is what a buyer would want.

Designed to sell and designed to live are two entirely different things. Like MOD noted in her post, what works in a very hot sellers market cannot be extrapolated to a stagnant market or strong buyer’s market. Make sure you understand which market your house is in before you accept anecdotes about quick selling times in the presence of clutter or lack of serious house prep.

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@cameo43 regarding the lab odor…

Labradors have special oil glands that keep their fur waterproof when they’re in the water for extended periods of time. This oil also reeks (in my opinion) and is really tenacious.

The medium sized dogs I’ve owned have all rubbed themselves against the walls and frames of the houses I’ve lived in (I had standard poodles-oil free, lol).

If you are still having issues with odor after having the floors and any soft stuff like carpeting or curtains professionally cleaned and de-doggy-odorized (there are some excellent products out there now), I’d get the walls and trim painted.

At the very least, the smell of fresh paint should knock out the doggy smell. For a while. Best case scenario the paint seals the odor and it’s gone for good.

When we were selling our houses we brought the dogs with us and hid all evidence that we owned dogs-crates and bowls went into the back of the car, dogs went over to a friends house, or, more typically, we just went for a walk in the park with them during showings. Poodles don’t tend to be as stinky as a lot of other dogs, and they don’t shed, so it was easier to make the house look pet free, which appeals to a larger group of people.

@STEM2017 we’ve rented a storage unit every time we’ve put a house on the market. It just makes it a lot easier to de-clutter (although I tend not to be cluttery, H is a bit of a collector), and if you have someone who isn’t good at throwing stuff out, they tend to be ok with trotting the stuff over to the unit, instead. We didn’t do a POD because it really requires you to get everything in quicker, and the “collector” was rather leisurely about getting his stuff into storage before we put it on the market.

The upside is, once we were in the new house and went to empty the storage unit, my husband decided he really didn’t miss a lot of the stuff we’d stored and we either tossed it or donated it. I don’t consider it a waste of money to rent the unit because it made the experience a lot less stressful for him and a lot more effective for me.

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When you are selling your house, you have to totally give up YOUR view of the house…and try to set it up for strangers who want to buy it.

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What do you think, @snowball? Are any of these comments helpful at all?

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One thing I will say, is that I think some thing may depend a bit on your neighborhood. We lived in a neighborhood of houses built in the 1920s. Houses with updated kitchens and somewhat opened up floor plans tend to sell more quickly, but no one who chooses this neighborhood is expecting houses to look brand new.

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In my opinion, the less brand new and updated stuff you have, the more you want to address other details…like lack of clutter.

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I think taking photos and looking at it with a critical eye can be helpful, just like how we always cringe when we see photos of ourselves. :wink:

Another trick is to look at a room through a mirror’s reflection. It’ll help give you a fresh look on your own spaces. We are so used to seeing our own home that we don’t notice things like clutter that others will.

I can’t imagine paying a professional and not strongly considering their advice, though. Living through showing is a PITA. If I were you, I’d take the house off the market, declutter first, then put it back on. It’ll sell faster which means less showings and less time to sell. You need to go through the crap and purge anyway if you want to sell.

We are going through a change in administration. Who knows what the future may bring, good or bad? Strike while the iron is hot. Get it cleaned up and cleaned out and get it sold!

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@snowball when we sold our first house, we had it listed from July to November. We had three offers very close to the listing price…but all had contingencies…and they all fell through. We took the house off the market right before Thanksgiving. We had hideous carpeting in a 20x20 family room…big plaid. We had it replaced with a nice light blue Berber. House went back on the market March 1 and we had an even higher offer than the other three within two days.

I don’t think you should underestimate what some freshening up can do to sell a house.

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Selling between Mid-November through New Year’s Day is tough anyway. Not that Jan and Feb are easy, especially if you are living someplace wintery.

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But that’s what I was saying… we were mid-November until just before Christmas when we settled on an offer. I expected maybe a showing every week or two, but we had 22 showings in 17 days because our house stood out above others. What we were told was, people who are looking that time of year, are very, very serious buyers, so although you might not get the same amount of traffic as spring/summer, the ones who are looking are going to buy, and there’s usually limited inventory.

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I appreciate everyone reply, and sorry if I came off as not willing to make changes or work on getting the house sold. Of course my bed will be made and the floors vacuumed before showing; I was just wondering if small things out really made a difference. It looks like it does according to all of you, so I will take your word for it! I am just one of those people that can see the house for what it is; I don’t need it staged to imagine what it would look like with my family living there. My house has color and I know most agents want white walls and boring furniture; the agent wants me to removed the throw pills off my sofa because they are the same pattern as my sofa. I understand someone may not like my sofa pattern, but the sofa is going with me and fits this space perfectly.

Unfortunately, life circumstances made us list the house before having time to purge. Now it is hard to do a ton of decluttering due to work hours and personal and health reasons. While I do and will work on the weekends to clean closets and cabinets, if the house it being shown on weekends, I can’t be in the middle of a closet and then have to leave the house for a showing. Our agent was selected as she is a family friend and was going to help with the work prior to showing by having the stager and mover here to help. Somewhere she decided it was best to show “as it” as she wanted it on the market ASAP. My husband and I were a bit overwhelmed and agreed.

We made the decision to put all the boxes in one section of the unfinished basement. As we get closets and cabinets cleared, that is where items we think we will keep are going; everything else is going to charity or trash. As neither of my kids live here, they have not had a chance to go through their belonging to see what they want to keep. My daughter lives out of the country, so her stuff will have to go with us, until she moves back to the states, if she ever does. My son will be here Thanksgiving, so he will go through his books and few things to see what he wants to keep. My parents are going to have to get a storage until which they really can’t afford, but we really don’t have a choice. It was just easy for everyone to use our basement for storage as we didn’t think we would have to sell so quickly.

As far as the dogs, they go to doggie daycare during the work week, so are not home during showings. During the weekend, we will take them with us while we hang wherever, that is not a problem. For those of you that said a house with pets would be a turn off for you; even if my house was empty of all dogs toys, bowls, crates and hair, they still live here, so there isn’t anything I can do about that. Very much like I can not help I have pine trees that drop needles in the back yard unless I cut down even tree in the yard. I am not getting rid of the dogs, so if it takes longer to sell the house, so be it.

While not the best time of year to sell, it is what we had to do; either someone will make an offer we like, or they won’t. It only takes one buyer, and someone will get a nice deal on the house as we have to sell. Would I like top dollar for the house; of course I would, but don’t have the money to put into it to make the extra money. Luckily, in our large subdivision, we are the only house for sale at the moment in a very desirable area due to the school system. Someone will make an offer we can live with, I think.

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Snowball: I feel for you–it can be overwhelming to sell your home. Your story brought me back memories of the sale of my home and how exhausting it was. I am so glad that I am done with that chapter of my life.

I hope your home sells quickly!

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All you can do is what you can do. And you are doing all you can. Good luck!

I am curious as to the reason you need to sell so suddenly, if you’d like to share.

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Wishing you a quick and top dollar sale!

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Good luck!!

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Best of luck to you, Snowball. It sounds like you’re in the midst of some upheaval, and I’m sorry the sequence of events has made aspects of selling/moving more difficult. I just want to note that I applaud you for mentioning that you’re not about to get rid of the dogs. Sometimes when people are faced with unexpected stresses and changes in their lives, they get rid of the animals. Clearly your dogs are a part of your family and I trust they will help ease the move…because they’ll help make your new home feel like home. (By the way, I don’t mean to imply that any posters thought the OP should get rid of the dogs!)

Being in a desirable subdivision in a solid school district is a big plus. Let’s hope there are some families hoping to move to your neighborhood around the first of the year to coincide with the semester change for their school-age kids.