i can tell you right now, if i was looking to buy your house, it would not in the least bother me that you were cleaning out a closet on a saturday while i was looking at it. personally, i’d think of it as rather normal for someone gettting ready to move…
but thats me. i wouldnt expect some hgtv staged home if i was looking to buy. i would like clean, i would also like decluttered (and fwiw, it also wouldnt bother me in the least if i saw packed boxes in a basement–again, i’d think it was NORMAL for someone selling their house).
i think all the real estate tv shows has colored our views on what we “must” do to sell a home. it sets an unrealistic expectation for both the buyers and sellers…as long as its a desireable property to someone, it will sell.
my only tip is dont move what you dont need. honestly–throw out as much as you can before you go. trust me :-*
I sold my house last year. I actually started the process to declutter and do some repairs almost 2 years before putting it on the market. Partly because I planned to downsize, though. It was a buyer’s market, and my house was higher end. I did pretty much everything your realtor said. I felt like I lived in a furniture store for months. I got up a few minutes earlier in the morning and added a bunch of stuff to my morning routine so I left the house ready to show every day. For example, I draped a towel over the dirty laundry basket in the master bedroom closet. Just a lot of little stuff like that. And I made the bed super meticulously (not the usual pull up the bedding, but the “hanging evenly on each side and nothing sticking out” way).
My realtor showed the house more than once to people who had come from out of town and had only a day or so to look. There were times when it was show it almost immediately, or lose the showing.
I still sold it for about 10% less than I’d thought was my minimum price, and it took over 6 months.
So if you are in a seller’s market, like much of California or Seattle, you can do less. But I think doing more usually pays off in any market.
I just bought a new house. While looking it made me think the homeowners didn’t want to sell when I saw their house full of stuff and personal items. A reluctant seller to me is the one who will be difficult to work with during negotiations and inspections, etc.
I think it will take longer and you’ll get less money if the house isn’t really ready to be on the market.
However this isn’t necessarily the worst time to sell, there is less inventory available as well so you probably aren’t competing against as many houses.
We sold our house at this time of year and closed on our new one right after Christmas. It does happen.
That doesn’t change the reality that staged homes sell more quickly and for more money than homes that aren’t. You don’t want to hope that only “that one buyer” sees the value of your home. You want to appeal to as many buyers as possible.
Our lake house was immaculate as far as staging and decluttering goes. It was in a great location and had a spectacular view, one of the best on the whole lake. But it was dated, and a lot of the feedback we got said it needed to be remodeled. We finally did find “that ONE buyer” who was willing to take it off our hands, but the house sat on the market for over a year. That’s a lot of money when you consider mortgage/interest/insurance and regular costs of owning a home.
It’s possible you could have a messy, cluttered house that breaks all the “rules” and still have a buyer come in and offer you well over asking. But that’s really not a realistic hope in most markets. Very few people actually have the vision to see past stuff like that to the home’s potential. Instead, they either pass on it or offer less for it. Realtors have seen that play out over and over, which is why they are so insistent that clients do this or that.
When I look at a home, I want it to look like no one lives there- yet fully furnished and immaculately clean! No evidence of cooking, using shower or bathroom, etc. Unrealistic yet this is what I expect. Anything else is a turn off.
There are a lot of vacant remodeled homes coming onto the market in my city, presumably flips. A lot of them stage the main living areas. This way, buyers can see how furniture could be arranged, particularly if the rooms are at all unusual in shape or size. For people with vision, this seems unnecessary. But for many people, it helps a lot to have someone map it out for them.
@snowball - my heart goes out to you too. It is very difficult to move from a home that you’ve lived in for any length of time, even if selling is the right and best thing. We sold our house and moved this past June and it was much harder than I thought it would be. We were ready to sell too. It was just hard though.
^^^^^My DH still mourns the sale of our family home. Even though we knew it was time to sell (we had a large back yard with pool, gazebo, outdoor kitchen, babbling brooks, etc. and extensive landscaping that went largely unused and cost a fortune every month to maintain), he was extremely ambivalent about selling. He over priced it so severely that I accused him of sabotage.
Surprise surprise, someone actually accepted our price. On the day we closed, he began vomiting at the title office. He was sick all night long, leaving me to finish all the packing up for the movers the next morning. It literally took me all night long to get it done. We still talk about that ordeal and shake our heads. Sometimes he drives by the house and comes home telling me how much he misses it.
A lived-in house, especially if it sat on the market for a month or more, signals to the buyers that the sellers could be more willing to negotiate on the price just to be able to get out of the constant cleaning and tidying.
If you don’t get offers, it may be for reasons you didn’t anticipate. Clutter or the obvious presence of people living in the house might not be the problem.
My mother once had huge difficulty selling a house, even though she had decluttered it and kept it impeccably clean. After it languished on the market for a couple of months, the realtor advised her to paint over the wooden paneling in her living room in white. Apparently, the paneling looked old-fashioned. Once the room was repainted, the house sold within a week.
My point is that if your house is not selling, there could be any number of reasons.
Snowball, moving is ALWAYS a hassle. I decluttered, purged, donated, and cleaned… and the move was still a nightmare. Don’t beat yourself up for only doing as much as you can.
That’s exactly the house I would buy!! I like buying houses that ar in the perfect location but don’t show well because they’re dated. I absolutely love updating and renovating, so I would have bought your house in a minute!
Our house is also on the market. We’ve been through this many times. It is very difficult when you have pets. Pets do not sell a house, so you really do have to minimize their impact. We scoop the cat box and wipe down the sides with wipes, put all the toys away and drag their bowls and water out of sight (but so that they can still get to them.)
Close all toilets. Put toothbrushes and any personal things under the sink. Lock away any “marketable” meds. You can leave a few family pictures out, but remember that buyers only want to imagine themselves in the house. Deal with odors. (I leave a small jar of vinegar out to neutralize smells.)
I don’t mind a little clutter, but a house that is so obviously full of other people’s intimate lives (laundry, trash, toothbrushes, razors, C-PAP masks, etc.) can be really off-putting. If you want close to your asking price, you really do have to pretend as if you don’t live there.
When we were looking to purchase a house here we saw it all: one home that I loved owner refused to sell to us. Seems the husband had worked for my fill and held a grudge. (full price offer, no conditions). Another home was up for sale due to a divorce. The wife used/burned cigarettes in all rooms. She padlocked all closets. The worst? She opened cans of cat food and placed them in her pantry. When I opened the door there were roaches everywhere. The house we purchased was not updated, but it was moderately clean. But this market was ok…now it is on fire.
We plan on moving in the next 3-5 years.This fall we put on a new roof, new windows and doors, painted the outside trim, put on a new deck and painted the inside rooms. I am looking for new lighting in some of the rooms. In our area homes must be updated and look fabulous to compete with new construction. Our neighborhood is unique with its heavily wooded lots but the homes were built in the late 80’s so have lots of oak trim, built ins, and floors that are out of style for younger buyers. I work hard at updating everything but I know it will take some time to sell and I want to get all of the big projects done before H retires.
“If you don’t get offers, it may be for reasons you didn’t anticipate. Clutter or the obvious presence of people living in the house might not be the problem.”
When we sold our previous home close to 20 years ago, our realtor had a realtor open house prior to officially listing to get feedback from other professionals on the house and pricing, and to stir up interest amongst other agents for their buying clients. Is this still common practice?
Another trick: if you have the matching paint, slap up some touch-up paint in various areas around the house before showings (leaving plenty of time to dry). The “fresh paint” smell lingers and subliminally signals “clean” and “new” to buyers.