This Old House: For Sale

Now that we know that Joseph is an attorney (if you didn't hear, he passed the bar exam!), we also know that his job offer with JAG Air Force is now legit.  


Which means, we will have to move.  


We are a little sad about that.  I will miss my neighborhood, I will miss my friends.  And I will really miss my home.  

Have I shown you my home before?  

I feel like this home is a part of our family now.  

I get attached to places, especially homes.  This is our second home & we've lived in it for 4 years, the longest amount of time we've lived anywhere as a couple.  We bought it because of it's unique & historic nature (it was built in 1890), the large yard & the detailed landscaping.   We have loved living here. 

We were going to take our time getting it on the market.  

We weren't sure if we were going to do a few miscellaneous projects like replace the carpet or put in an A/C.  Today we decided, what are we waiting for?  Let's clean it up, stage it, & put it up for sale, asap.  

So that's what I have been up to all day:  getting our house ready to sale, which we will be doing for sale by owner (FSBO).  

We've done FSBO once before.  Since Joseph is at home & we have the next 3 months until he's off to bootcamp, we decided we'd do it again.  [More on FSBO in another post.]   

Getting a house market ready is no small task.  

In fact, it's safe to say, if you want to do it right, is a ton of work.  Especially when you have other things going on in your life (like say, taking care of 4 young children).   

Fortunately, last year, thinking we were going to move in the summer, we got our house all ready to sale.  

It took months!  

We repainted, put in crown molding, de-cluttered (this was actually a much bigger task than I thought it would be), replaced doorknobs, replaced light bulbs, fixed things that were broken, got our carpets professionally cleaned, polished the floor, deep cleaned the house from top to bottom, bought fresh flowers.  

I read a few books on home selling (particularly by owner) & the few tricks & tips I gleaned boiled down to one thing.  Is it the kitchen that matters most?  A renovated bathroom?  Baking cookies right before a showing (I actually do that one.  I think it's a nice touch. Who doesn't like the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies?).  Nope.  

The most important thing is staging.  

In other words, making your house look like a showroom.  To "stage" a home, it should be as uncluttered & as clean, bright, & generic as possible (I took down all our family pics, another tip from the "pros").  

You can have a beautiful, solid home, but if it's cluttered, dirty, the yard is overgrown with weeds & strewn with toys, many buyers will not even give it the time of day.  

Staging does to a home what lipstick & a well-put together outfit does to a women going out on a date.  It makes it much more attractive & desirable.  

Last summer, after we did all of this & put our house on the market (FSBO) I realized, oh my goodness, why hadn't I done this sooner?  I love my new, fresh, clean house!  I didn't want to move.  

Lucky for me, plans changed a bit, & we didn't end up moving then, but we had done all the work for getting our house market ready & I got to enjoy a cleaner, less cluttered home.  

Most of what we did last summer is still intact. 

I just have a few things I need to do, mainly de-cluttering & putting most things in storage (like all of my kids toys that won't fit in their toy closet), scrubbing my kitchen & bathroom 'til they shine, & doing a few odds & end projects outside.  

Then I will take pictures & hopefully by tomorrow, I will be able to post some of them & give you a tour of our home!  

*****

Have you ever sold a home?  

What did you do to get it ready to put on the market?  

Please share any tips or tricks that worked for you, they're most appreciated!

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