As most of you know, I put my house on the market a few weeks ago. I have lived here for almost 12 years, so this is a happy/sad occasion.
Happy: I can downsize to something that suits my needs better, now that my daughters are starting to move away. The house is about 2,000 square feet, and I probably live in about 600 of that. The rest is wasted space until the girls come home to visit, which isn’t often and rarely at the same time! I love my house, but I am lost in it!
Happy: I can quit paying a mortgage. It’s been a struggle to keep up payments in this real estate market. I will be glad to get the mortgage and maintenance costs off my back and rent for a while, but……
Sad: …….it doesn’t feel good to be in that situation. I wanted to downsize, but I wasn’t planning to so soon. I feel I don’t have a choice.
Sad: All the prep work over the last several months to get it pretty for showing. I have gone through and sorted every room and closet to see what I need to keep, what I want to keep for the girls, and what I can sell or give away. I have made several trips to our public library with books and magazines, Habitat for Humanity and the freebox at our recycling center for just about everything else. I have burned lots of paper and am printing on the backsides of what is still usable.
I packed away things I don’t need right away, but that I will take with me – framed pictures, the girls’ artwork, 35+ years of journals, spring needs for the greenhouse. My store room and shed are getting full of packed boxes! I gave my older daughter some pots and pans that I don’t use anymore.
This morning, I continued to go through my kitchen cupboards to sort/clean/organize. If a potential buyer opens a cupboard looking for storage space, they will get a fairly accurate idea of how much there is (plenty!). I put a 1/4 cup measuring cup in a container of coffee that I keep in the freezer. I stopped, thinking, ‘What if I need this for baking?’ And in the same second, I thought, ‘I don’t bake now that the girls are gone,’ and I started to cry.
We tell our clients to declutter as much as possible so potential buyers can see the floors, walls, windows and floor plan, and get a sense of living there themselves. If there is too much of ‘You’ in the house, they get distracted when looking, and they may not be able to visualize themselves having coffee, watching a movie, raising children or entertaining in what could be their new home.
> Put away pictures, knick knacks and family mementos.
> Take out as much furniture as you can, even if you have to put it in storage.
> Put away your countertop appliances.
> Let the bones of the house show.
> Do small repairs – touch-up painting, window washing, deep cleaning if necessary.
> Think ‘curb appeal’ with an attractive yard and entry way. Plant flowers, clean up walkways.
I have been on the receiving end of my own advice this year.
And it’s been painful. It’s a grieving process.
Not only am I selling my house, I am selling a precious time of my life raising my girls here. I am selling the kitchen where we have baked cakes, cookies, corn bread and pumpkin rolls, and made hundreds of tortillas that we ate warm with butter. My younger daughter, at about 12, made a cherry pie from scratch in this kitchen.
My home does not feel homey. It’s more like a museum or a hotel. Few of my personal things are out. And my routine has been disrupted! I have to look for things I use every day. I’ve put the kitchen hand soap in a drawer, and never remember that when I go to use it. I have the kitchen trash in a different place, an inconvenient place, but it’s ‘out of the way’ of a potential buyer’s view.
I wash and put away my dishes all the time, and put the dish drainer under the sink when I’m done. I make my bed every morning. I keep my clothes picked up and dirty laundry, again, ‘out of the way.’ I don’t really LIVE here anymore! There aren’t even curtains on the windows, so buyers can easily see the amazing views, but I feel totally exposed at night. It’s very hard, and a constant reminder of this shitty economy and losing my children to adulthood to live on my own again.
I am already worried about where I might go. Will my utilities be as low? Will it be sunny? Will it be warm in winter and cool in summer? Will I be able to grow food? Will I be able to have great views? Will my neighbors be kind and helpful? Will it be safe? These are all things I have where I am.
I have no restrictions on showing times, so anyone can come any time (within reason, of course). Any of those showings can send me and my memories packing into the unknown. I am unsettled, physically and emotionally.
So, all you Realtors® out there, please keep this in mind when you work with your sellers. It’s a very emotional experience, all day every day. It starts with the circumstances leading up to selling, and moves to the decision to sell, the prep work, listing and showing. I have yet to go through the process of negotiating a contract, closing the deal and moving, but I don’t imagine that will be easy.
I closed a short sale last December. Not only did this couple lose their house and business, they were getting a divorce, and they had three small children. In hindsight, now that I am selling partly for financial reasons, I don’t think I was compassionate enough when they dug their heels in and refused to do what was needed according to bank deadlines. I can’t change that now, but I can change the way I do business in the future.
Please be sensitive to what your sellers are going through. More hand-holding, less do-this-do-that, and a little understanding will ease the home sale journey, no matter the reasons.
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