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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Selling our house this spring...
I'm feeling MORE than overwhelmed!!! How do you stage a house and keep it that way---when I stay at home with a 4 year old and a 5 month old?? I'm sure people do it all of the time, but I'm struggling with keeping the toys organized anyway--let alone for a showing. I can't decide what to keep and what to donate. Which house projects I should prioritize in prep for selling our house---the most bang for the buck. Any advice would be WELCOMED...where should I start??
Also....
Realtor suggestions...PLEASE!!!!!
Re: Selling our house this spring...
1. DONT MOVE!!!
2. Let me see your stash before you donate
3. THat's all I got!!
We boxed up about 75% of his toys and put them in the basement. Our house was on the market for 6 months I think, so when he got bored we just switched them out. I was a freak about the showings at first, but then I just kind of let it be. I would pick up when we would have a showing and clean of course, but people understand that you have to live there too. Don't be too crazy about it. You will cause a lot of unnecessary stress for yourself. I would also make sure that things are looking neutral and fresh. When we were searching for houses I could tell the ones that weren't really kept well. Pieces of molding would be missing, there would be chunks ripped out of the drywall, stains on the carpet, dirty walls, etc etc. Also, take down family pictures. I thought it was very weird when I would go into people's houses and there would be pictures of them all over the place. It distracted me.
Selling is a total nightmare. Go into it knowing that it most likely will be and TRY not to let it make you a crazy person. I was a basket case. And it was so stupid looking back on it. What's meant to happen, will happen.
Obviously I can't say much in regards to the children. But, you can say that you require a certain amount of time prior to all showings? We required two hours - only because if it was during the day (which most were), one of us had to get home to get the animals (and their belongings) loaded in the car.
We used Shari Thomas with NP Dodge, recommended by Bryn. Cannot say enough wonderful things about her - she was wonderful!
http://www.sellingomahahomes.com/
I would probably meet with a few realtors, and see what they recommend doing to the house. That way you are fixing things they think would help sell your house.
Good luck!
Showings will be a nightmare, the only thing you can do is be prepared to clean quickly when you get a call because you typically only have a few hours to do so. Keep it as clean as possible at all times. When we first listed, we had 10 showings in 7 days, so keeping it clean wasn't really an issue (plus I was not home with both kids during the day like you will be).
Pack up almost everything as far as toys go, or have them hidden in closets in neatly organized bins. I know people who have rented storage units and moved larger items out of their house to make it look larger. We didn't have that issue, so I just packed up all toys, pictures, etc. to declutter and make it look empty.
We did FSBO, so I don't have realtor suggestions.
Along with other posts, maybe have a friend or family member come in and look at the house as though they might be buying it. Then maybe they might be able to spot things that need a little fixing that maybe you did not notice.
Also, maybe to assist you in the decluttering/cleaning.....go to this website. She is very helpful with getting things done. flylady.net
Also, I'm really working on set the timer for 15 minutes and clean a room.
Are you also able to control the kids into their bedrooms and 1 other room for toys and play areas? This way, if you get a call, you have a limited amount of rooms to quickly pick up?
Here is another website that also gives some great tips and I forgot one that is huge for everyone!!!
- If there is something you like (curtains or rugs), take them down and replace with stuff you are okay to part with.
I had a friend who didn't do this and was stuck in a battle over her son's rug in his bedroom and his curtains. She finally gave in but it happens.
http://homebuying.about.com/od/sellingahouse/ht/homeprep.htm
Also might be something good to do to be proactive. Hire someone to come in and do an inspection on your house. You may learn that something needs to be replaced and if you can work on getting those things completed now before you sell, you don't have to be concerned that a buyer will come in and refuse to buy the house due to x,y,z being issues in the house inspection.
For staging, take some time to walk through some models, paying attention to their staging. Move out as much big furniture as you can and declutter --- removing everything from counter tops. I kept a small trunk for toys and a plastic container that all papers and stuff that usually lands on our kitchen counter went into when we were having a showing. That way I didn't have to worry about where we were stashing it when I needed to find it again. When I was ready to stage --- I took down all personal-style decor I had up, took $250 to Gordmans and bought a bunch of stuff for staging. I left the tags on and returned it when our house sold
GL!
Oh and if you're looking at houses and are interested in looking at Millard --- there is a gorgeous house for sale across the street from us. They are very motivated to sell because they are building a new one. It's at 15709 Monroe. It's listed at as a 3 bed --- but the basement has a non-conforming.
Married the love of my life 6/3/06
Became a family of three 8/25/09
Ditto all this. We did rent a storage unit (like PODS) to get rid of all of our extra stuff like furniture, pictures, stuff in storage (so you can put your stuff you use there), etc. Anything you won't need for a while can go. It really was great because it cleared up our closets and garage and storage and made the house look bigger and less cluttered. And they just deliver that thing to your new house when you're ready!
Anyway, showings will be a nightmare, especially with napping kids. It never fails that someone wants to come during naptime or dinner time and stay way over their allotted 2 hours. I don't have any suggestions for this, just that I can commiserate. Ugh.
Good luck!
thanks to jennied
We had our house on the market in 2010. Maren was 4, Tommy was 2/3 and K was not even a year. My advice is to box up and store all unnecessary toys and keep them packed up until you move. That made a world of difference.
Also, ask your realtor to put that you would like advance notice before a showing- it helped me a lot in planning around nap schedule for showings.
Find a realtor that you trust - we used Kris Swanson with DEEB & I could not, COULD NOT say enough good things about her. They will walk through the home with you & make recommendations. She actually stages your home with a professional stager - she came over one Sat. morning, we went out somewhere with the kids & when we came back it was all beautiful & they had already taken the pictures for the MLS.
We were super aggressive about clearing out junk & decluttering - we rented a storage Pod & put even extra furniture in it, and boxes of clothes for the offseason to get them out of the closets, etc. Be really aggressive in clearing stuff out - it makes a huge difference. It's not like normal cleaning up, where you can put the extra stuff in closets, downstairs, etc - those areas have to be cleaned up & mostly empty, ideally.
We had cleaners come every week ($90) and then basically every night after the kids went to bed we cleaned everything up. We got it ready to be shown every day before we left the house b/c we can't come home from work during the day. THIS is hard, getting the kids out without letting them destroy the house on the way out - I would try to get things very close to cleaned up, then pack the kids in the car, then come back in & grab the last few things, wipe the faucets, shake out the rug, whatever. You can always throw a basket of last minute things in the car with you.
I personally think that the staging & cleanliness of your house makes a huge impact. When I was looking at houses, if they couldn't even be bothered to clean it really well, I had this feeling like, "what else have they not bothered with?" Not necessarily reasonable but I think a sparkling clean, well organized/staged house looks like a house that has been well taken care of.
I felt like we succeeded when our sellers asked our realtor if we lived in the house, b/c it was "always so clean." I was floating on cloud nine for like a week.
Ditto this! We've used Shari to both buy and sell homes, and she is absolutely fabulous! She is always available when you need her, and she really listens to what you want. When everyone was telling us we were crazy for putting our house on the market because of the economy, we had 3 offers in the first week.
Thank You, Thank You, Thank you!!! For the advice, suggestions and for giving me the perspective that it IS POSSIBLE!!! It's nice to know that others have done it before.
We're definitely going to rent a storage unit---I just need to start getting stuff out of this house. AND I'm going to Sell on CL and DONATE like CRAZY!!!!!
Thanks again---I'll probably start a thread about realtors next week, but thanks for these suggestions, I'd LOVE to work with someone who uses a stager!!!!