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Getting house ready to sell... Kids stuff EVERYwhere... HELP
So let me be honest...
I want to put the house on the market between March-July
We have to repaint/recarpet and pay off some debt and the we will be ready.
I have some MAJOR issues. We have a 3bed/2 bath/1800 sq ft house that is 5 yrs old we are the original owners.
Not sure if the kids rooms would be huge turn off to people who dont have kids.
So the kids room are done up as kids rooms, my daughters room is 1/2 pink and 1/2 yellow with a chair rail molding. It has a Owl/tree vinyl mural on her wall. Its all very cute, but not sure on appealing to people without kids.
My DS's room is the same but blue/brown and a monkey/tree/giraffe mural on her wall.
Then we have the living room where I have 1/2 of the room as my office. I do invitations full time outside of the house so its literally 4 desks floor to ceiling. with scrapbook shelves. There is nowhere else for me to go and I need to work.
I am just getting overwhelmed with how we would make this looking great to everyone without moving out first. It stresses me out big time, and swinging 2 mortgage payments isnt in the cards for us.
Re: Getting house ready to sell... Kids stuff EVERYwhere... HELP
I don't think the kids' rooms would bother many buyers as long as they are clutter free (no big toys in sight). Your bigger issue, IMO is the living room/office combo. 4 floor-ceiling desks in the 'living room' is a huge distraction, must kill your visible space and screams "we have no storage or space."
My Valentine Bookends (2~13~13, 2~15~09)
I think the ONLY way I could do it is if I moved everything but my computer and 1 desk and put the rest in the garage?
I am just worried that it could be on the market from 2-3 months (seems to be avg in my neighborhood) and I will essentially be working out of the office.
Perhaps I could close up shop for 3 months too.. I do it off of etsy so I guess I could do that as well. This would be a huge loss in income but I would enjoy the break. hehe
What about this...
We dont have a pantry- so we purchased to 2 Ikea Hermes shelves and use them as a Pantry.
Does those need to be moved as it screams we have no storage?
We have outgrown this house.
I would absolutley get rid of them bc it would bring attention to the lack of storage.
To answer your other questions, my H and are are childless and are currently looking at homes. I don't mind nurseries at all but every home with children we have been showen has been completely clutter free with no "evidence" of children in the downstairs areas.
I think your answer would depend on your market. Advice that I have received on here was vastly different than what my agent told me.
Can you find a short term lease on a little office space somewhere where you could work while you are staging the house to sell?
Our friend recently did that as he was finding he was just never getting work done at home and thought it would be worse with their 2nd son.
Alternatively, can you double up the children in one room temporarily and make the other room your office?
We've always had the boys sharing a room because DH needed his office.
This is what I was thinking too. Put the kids together in one room. Repaint the other and make it your office.
Out of curiosity, what as so "vastly different?"
My Valentine Bookends (2~13~13, 2~15~09)
I asked on here about selling with kids a few weeks ago and someone said getting rid of all evidence of kids in all rooms except for bedrooms (even to the point of loading up every toy into the car with you for showings). My realtor said that was not practical, what I might read online and see on HGTV is not the reality of the eastern PA market. People expect to see houses that look lived in (not cluttered, but lived in). I have toys in our living room for DD and she said to leave them, just keep them neatly organized in bins and pushed off into the corner.
Also, taking everything off of the kitchen counter except for 1 thing, taking down all family photos, hiding toothbrushes, etc.
Dont get me wrong, I did clean my a$$ off, declutter some closets and packed up some stuff from the kitchen to free up space. We dont have a garage so we also cleared out alot of stuff in our basement as well. But all of the rest of the suggestions that I mentioned to her, she said were overboard.
I would put away my toothbrush--I don't care what your REA said--having your toothbrush out on "display" is just tacky.
My Valentine Bookends (2~13~13, 2~15~09)
lol Ok then i'm tacky. Who cares, it's a toothbrush. And it's on the sink where it belongs. People are not going to scoff refuse to put in an offer on my house because they saw my toothbrush. **GASP! A toothbrush**
I looked on Ikea's site and I can't find the Hermes shelves that you're referring to, so I'm not sure what they look like.
However, if they're decent looking and placed well for a pantry (not in the dining room or living room, but in a bare corner of the kitchen) then I might consider leaving one of them.
Buyers will probably notice that there is no pantry and that will be a potential dealbreaker for a lot of them. They will likely look to see what you have done to make up for the lack of pantry. If there is a reasonable alternative that would be easy to duplicate, a potential dealbreaker might be avoided.
http://pandce.proboards.com/index.cgi#general
Is it this?
If I have the right one, I think that's acceptable as long as it is placed properly for a pantry. It shouldn't be in the dining room or living room if you're storing food in it.
If you need to have it in the dining room (I understand the meaning of small kitchen), take the food out of the pantry and put your dishes and glasses in it instead. Put your dry food in the kitchen cabinets. IMO, food should stay in the kitchen.
If I have the right cabinet pictured above, that could easily pass as a hutch in a dining room. Dishes are stored in a hutch, so that would work... and setting the table will be easy until you move since the dishes will be right beside the table.
http://pandce.proboards.com/index.cgi#general
It's Hemnes...
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/series/17723/
I don't know that I would get rid of the cabinets to be honest. I did notice when we looked at houses when people had too much furniture but if what you have is laid out well, I wouldn't worry too much about it.
I agree with lmdbww. We didn't get crazy when we staged/sold our houses. Did I put things away? Definately. Did I make sure everything was super clean...all the time. Definately. Declutter/neaten up? Sure. Would I care about a toothbrush? Nope. Would I care about a few toys in a basket in a family room? Nope. Try not to stress out!
Lol!
I live in Central PA & yes- a lot of real estate 'rules' aren't as prevalent in this area. Personal items (pictures, etc) are completely fine, the biggest thing is clutter and cleanliness.
I'm still cracking up at a toothbrush being 'tacky'. Bwahahaha. You have to be really... Delicate.,, to be offended by the sight of someone else's toothbrush.
It's not about being offended, it is just tacky to have it on display. How you got "offended" out of that I have no idea? Talk about reading into things.
Why would you put something that you use in your mouth on display in your bathroom? Most dentists and doctors recommend that you put your toothbrush away in a drawer or medicine cabinet because they attract bacteria (especially from flushing your toilet). But, do as you want...I really don't care.
My Valentine Bookends (2~13~13, 2~15~09)
If your house looks like you've outgrown it, why would anyone else come into it and think they wouldn't be suffering the same issue?
Your real estate can say all she wants about what rules do and don't apply in Eastern PA, but it's not about "rules". It's about marketing and sales. Do you want to sell your house quickly for top dollar? Then maximize all you can to make it as appealing as possible to the pickiest buyers. Has it suddenly turned to a sellers market in your world and you have the luxury of being a less compelling property than the other 4 bedroom places in the area?
This may mean renting a storage unit off site for a few months to get rid of stuff (4 desks and floor to ceiling scrapbook shelves?) I don't know what you do for a living, and I don't know how much of that stuff you need to have on hand at arm's reach at all times to do it, but it's worth asking yourself that question.
What stresses you out more? the overwhelming aspect of staging, or swinging 2 mortgage payments for the future? Choose the more tolerable, and work towards that.
Same for me in the Philly area. We kept some toys in the living room - toy boxes that could be closed, neatly, and some bigger toys as well. We got excellent feedback, our house sold quickly and to a couple with no kids.