The decision to put our townhome on the market was not an easy one. We have developed a close knit group of friends and a wonderful system of support in the neighborhood we lived in. We were close to public transportation, which we used regularly. And we were walking distance from shopping, medical services, the library, even restaurants! We knew that leaving our townhome and moving to a single family home would mean letting go of most, if not all, of those amenities. Our townhome offered plenty of space, and it was beautiful. The Mister had it built and made all of the choices regarding materials and style when he was a single guy, so while he never said it was a particularly emotional decision to move on from that house--I don't doubt that it was. It was his first home. It was "our" first home. We brought home our youngest daughter to that home. And we figured out how to live together, cook together, and work together in that home. But, that home had it's drawbacks and we were getting to the point where the drawbacks were beginning to outweigh the things we loved. We had a great deal of noise, often late into the night. We were frequently frustrated with snow removal services, and when you live in Minnesota, high quality snow removal services are up there with the right kind of coat, boots, and snow tires! And we wanted a yard.... our kiddos are 8 and 1 now and I think we wanted the yard as much for us as for them--to enjoy the outdoors together and to make family memories without going to the park.
The decision to put our house on the market was really more a series of discussions and a process of back and forth, maybe-we-will and maybe-we-won't. Our poor family and friends... talking to us was probably like watching old reruns of "Days of Our Lives". One day we were SO SURE we were putting the house on the market and then twelve hours later one of us would freak out. And then we were so sure we were staying, we'd call a vendor for quotes for hardwood floors or some other home improvement and then the other one of us would make the most tantalizing argument for selling and there we were again--SO SURE we were going to put the house on the market! One day the cycle stopped with the Mister saying he really thought it was the right time and we should go ahead and go for it. And, instead of freaking out or playing devil's advocate, I agreed, only saying that if this is what we were going to do, by golly, THIS IS WHAT WE WERE GOING TO DO. There was no turning back and we needed to give it our all.
So we did.
And we had a offer at full asking price within a week.
WITHIN A WEEK! (Ohmygoshwhatarewegoingtodonow?!?!)
But, I'm jumping ahead. I'd like to share with you what we did to prepare our house for the market, what I think worked, and what I probably wouldn't put as much effort into with hindsight being 20/20.
∙ We went all "Clean Sweep" on the place! We purged, threw, donated, and packed everything we could. We wanted the house to look like it was being featured in a magazine--at least that's what we told the 8 year old about why she was temporarily losing some of her toys.
∙ We rented a public storage locker and moved all of the "unnecessary" things there. Ultimately, when it came time for the move, we hired a moving company and we paid them a set fee to grab the things from public storage also. This was one of the BEST decisions we made in prepping the house for sale.
∙ We repaired any dings or holes in walls and made sure that mechanically the entire house was in top shape, and we gave a fresh coat of neutral paint to a few rooms. Most of the house was previously white. The spaces we painted were done in an off-white/ivory and really suited the spaces well.
∙ We removed ALL personal/family elements: school papers and coloring pages from the fridge, family photos from the entry hallway, and our daughters' shadow boxes off of the walls. We replaced the family photos with black and white photos the Mister had taken on a trip to Paris, making for a perfect, neutral, yet stylish set of artwork.
∙ We cleaned EVERYTHING. We did not hire a cleaning service or someone to come in, although that sure would have been nice! Think of Spring Cleaning on Steroids... That's what we did... obviously, there were no steroids involved BUT I'm telling you, we put the Merry Maids to shame! From behind the fridge and stove to cleaning the grout lines to oiling all of the wood. We did it all. And we maintained it by generally keeping things picked up, but also by doing a brief run-through of teh house each evening, especially if we had a showing scheduled the next day, so that the finishing touches wouldn't be such a rush on the way out the door.
∙ We made good use of our selling season. We put our house on the market in the spring, so our proximity to the library, shopping, and friends enabled us to be out of the house as needed for showings. I only managed to leave part of Baby Girl's bottle at home once in the process but THAT, folks, did not go over well. (In my defense, her bottles have both a ring and a seal and I had NO clue what a disaster it would be without the seal--ooops! Lesson learned!)
∙ We ate at restaurants almost every night of the week that our house was on the market. You'd think that would be great, right? Hah! It was great for a couple of days, after which you have two cranky
I truly believe that ALL of these things together helped us to sell our house quickly. And, I think it was just the "right" time. The market was good, ours was the only traditional sale in the neighborhood, and we worked our butts off to prep the house to appeal to a potential buyer. The ONLY thing I think I would change is that I would be a little less concerned with the everyday, full-on, clean-up. I felt like we had to keep the place spotless so we pretty much did. But, I don't think we needed to do AS much cleaning before every showing as we did. I also think we would have been a little bit more selective with showing times. We said yes to every request for a showing. Having an infant and a child, it would have been wise for us to keep their bedtimes sacred and to have had a bit more structured plan for how we would handle all of the "we're kicked out of our house for a showing" eating out at restaurants that we did.
If you're trying to decide whether to put your house on the market--good luck. Truly, it's a huge decision and there are SO many factors to consider. I'm thankful that we both came to the same decision at the same time with no regrets. We would not have moved forward if one or the other of us was not on the same page.
If you're in the selling process--good luck! Remember--this too shall pass. Someone will walk through the house you called home and they WILL see themselves there. It just takes the right person at the right time--be patient. And try to keep living your life through the showing and selling process. Remember that you and your family NEED your time, space, and normalcy. Make sure that you allow yourselves that.
Next up--going, going, GONE to the bidder one week in!
Until then,
--Nic
