Anybody had any? My wife and I just decided to put our house on the market. Some of you may know we have two daughters, so we really need more space. So we looked at different realtors to sell/buy with, and made a deal Friday to get started. But the house wouldn't go on the market for 3 weeks so we could clean up - paint, possibly new carpet, etc. But the sign goes in the yard anyhow so inquiries can be made. Friday and Saturday we gut rooms to start packing stuff up, but we're in the middle of it, so there are still toys and crap EVERYWHERE. Place is a real mess right now. Anyhow, this morning I'm all alone. Wife and kids are out and she doesn't have her cell phone. I'm just starting to write a story on everything that happened with Rudy and this realtor calls. She wants to show the house. Show the house? I think you've been misinformed. The house doesn't go on the market for probably 3 weeks. "Oh I know, but by then this person will have bought something. We can look past anything ... we just need to see if it works for us." I said I would call her to say yes or no, but it would be a few hours. Oh man this place is a STY. So I start hiding stuff - the toys, blankets, papers, Les Alexander voodoo dolls - everything I could, but nowhere near enough time. I call her back an hour later to say OK, thinking I still have an hour - she's like, "Oh, we're right outside your home now." Oh boy. They come by but you know, no matter what they say, it has an impact. I guess it's good that someone wants to see the home so quickly, but I have a feeling selling a home is going to suck bigtime.
My advice: 1) Hire someone to come in and clean the house top to bottom once a week for the next few...it's really worth it, especially if you have kids. It takes a load off of what appears to already be a busy schedule. 2) Stock up on cinnamon (sp?) and apple juice...pour apple juice with a lot of cinnamon in it into a pot, and put it on simmer about 15-20 minutes before you start showing the house. Make sure there is enough that you can leave it for a few hours without it evaporating and burning...it gives the house an unbelievably comfy, homey smell...like fresh baking all the time. It's an old realtor's trick I learned from an ex, and it works wonders. 3) re: packing/moving...IF you have the disposable income, HIRE people. There are good movers/packers out there...and they really aren't that expensive. Packing is just about the worst experience in the world, and if you've got kids it must be hell. I use every move as a purge, to get rid of stuff...My rule; unless it has EXTREME sentimental value, if I haven't used in in the last year, it goes to charity or the trash. 4) Re: showing...Give the real estate office definite times you are and are not available. They are usually very good about staying within the times you are comfortable with...and make sure you schedule time where you are home but aren't showing...you need down time, and people tramping through your house can be really tiring. Also, leave the showing to the agents; be available for questions, but don't waste your time trying to sell the house, it's too much work, they do it better, and it makes little difference. Good luck. JAG
It sucks that my wife is pregnant right now, cause she is a realtor and summer time is a seller's market. Clutch, I am not suprised you got a call so quickly. May, June is when people move the most (with kids and school). Glad to see you have found a potential buyer so quickly and I am also glad to see you are working with a realtor. So many people nowadays don't think they need one or don't think their services are worth the commission.
When we moved from my old house to this house last May it was HELL. We were going from a 3400 square foot house to a smaller one, so the situation is different than yours. Still, I went through that realtor crap and it will just get worse. Always having to keep the house clean and having strange people walking around your house always put me in a bad mood. My only advice to you is never turn anyone down. If they want to see the house, let them see it. I mean the chance that they will like it and buy it is worth letting them see it. Its going to be a pain in the ass, but good luck.
All excellent suggestions. I would add that hiring people over the next couple of months to handle all of the day-to-day cleaning issues - housecleaning, yard work, even laundry - is probably a very good idea. With all that you and your wife have to deal with - work, kids, packing, etc - it is better to spend a little $$$ and get those things off of your agenda.
MacBeth - I appreciate the suggestions. Very, very helpful. I read them to my wife and she thought they were real good ideas also. We will definitely keep those in mind. codell - yeah, a realtor is going to be huge. I know commission is a lot, but it's nice not to have to worry about all of it. We're also getting a break since we will go through them when we buy our next house (as most realtors offer). Drewdog - we're staying in Austin (I think) .... we just need a bigger place. Overall, we have a lot to do - we're painting the kids' rooms back to the neutral off-white, staining the deck, probably replacing the carpet... going to be not-so-fun But I agree with the comments... we'll be getting bids to do a lot of the items because we just don't have the time and we need to get things ready quickly.
Clutch, good luck with the sale and I hope you will find a great place you and your family will love.
Are you selling first, and then moving? The idea is to have the home ready to show. IF you moved out, this means leaving some furniture to make it look like a model home. If you still live there, it means cleaning up all your junk and decorating to make it look like a model home. You need to lead buyers to understand the function and flow of your space. They don't know. Show how the kitchen interacts with the living room. Put a rug and chair in the reading corner. Flowers on the table. Keep the blinds half-way up, and open the space. Use mirrors and blue paint to open narrow space, yellows and earthtones to warm a cold room, children's pictures or drawings to make it empathetic. Make the front as attractive and inviting as possible. It's the first impression. Set a table w/tablecloth and tray in the back. Keep some light music going in the kitchen - salsa, jazz, light classical, classic texana. Best of luck. Are you buying or building the next one? My wife and I just finished building, and are trying to sell our old bungalow near Rice. Would be glad to share any building ideas.
I think Chance sold within the past couple of weeks, you may try to reach him and see if he has some advice.
Clutch: I just recently got incredibly lucky and sold my house in 10 days (I can give you the name of the realtor if you want, but I think it's almost all luck). I would say don't worry about hiring anyone to do anything. Think about it -- if you were dead-set on buying a house, would it really matter to you if it was a little dirty? My baby's room's walls are all painted with trees, bugs, flowers and crap on there, and it obviously didn't make a difference. I think it's all about finding the right buyer for your house. We actually re-did our front yard, putting in new grass, but I'm not sure it really mattered. This guy just wanted our house. You should definitely show it at any time. Don't worry about mess. What I'm curious about however is that Les Alexander line. I would be extremely appreciative if you could indulge me on that one. Even if you're joking, there has to be something to that.
Damn you, Clutch. How dare you think about yourself when the Rockets are in search of a new head coach. The house can wait. Selfish b*stard.
This cracked me up, Clutch, because this happens to me ALL the time. At least it seems like it. If someone wants to come over that we haven't seen in awhile or the parents of one of the kids wants to come over and visit or pick up one of mine to play (they almost always want to come in and chat) it's ALWAYS when the place looks a wreck and my wife's out. I've misplaced more things from "panic cleanups"... drives me crazy. Austin's market isn't what it once was, so it may take a little while. There are some good suggestions here. Good luck!
Dont forget "curb appeal" Make sure the lawn is manicured and edged, and the outside of the house is free of debris. It makes a great first impression, good luck!!
If it is at all possible, leave furniture in to show the house. People like to get an idea of what it looks like with furniture in it and how it would work for them. It also hides imperfections in the house to have furniture in it. Always easier to sell a house when it has furniture. Oh, by the way. Depending on what your price range is and where you will be moving, we've noticed a trend of tract home builders slowly raising their prices. So, tract home builders WHERE able to lock out custom homes builders from the 150's-250's price range (tract home builders can buy huge tracts of land, so per lot it is cheaper to build, whereas custom builders must buy lot by lot). However, the trend has had tract home builder's prices catching up to custom homes in that price range. So don't dismiss looking at custom homes when shopping around (if your looking for new, or looking to build). You may be pleasantly surprised by what you can afford.
Supermac34, ROCKSS, pasox2 and TheHorns -- thanks for the tips and advice. And thanks also to those who commented for the well wishes. pasox2 - we're open to buying a resale or building new. Pros and cons with both for us. If we buy new, the entire 3% commission to our selling realtor for selling our home comes back to us (as opposed to 1% if we buy a resale). But new homes still cost a pretty penny out here - for dreams sake we were looking at Drees Custom Homes this past weekend. Gorgeous homes, but damn if these guys don't want a fortune for their homes TheFreak - thanks for the advice. Ironically our realtor wants us doing the opposite - new carpet, painting over the kids rooms (one just like yours - with Winnie the Pooh characters painted on the walls), touching up everywhere, etc. His philosophy is the buyer is going to buy on emotion, so it should look clean, neutral, new, etc. But we're probably looking at roughly 3 grand or so to get stuff done - and it seems the buyer is still going to want to negotiate substantially (just the way things are in Austin now). We'll see... we love our house, just too small for us now - we'd like to get this done quickly, but it's a buyers market here these days. To sell in 10 days, as you did, is pretty phenomenal. BTW, where are you now? New house? Apartment?
