Selling Your Home Is Possible
Selling Your Home Is Possible
You decided that a retirement community is the best option
for you. Living in a retirement community indeed offers many conveniences and
benefits. For many this also means putting a home on the market—at a time when
home selling has had its challenges. However,
armed with sound professional guidance and a strategic plan, selling your home is possible - and may be less stressful
than you think.
Step One - Understand your market.
Lawrence Yun, National Association
of Realtors’ chief economist, recently noted on a national level “the housing
market is healing.” Chances are, if you take the proper steps and do the
necessary and proper research, you can successfully sell your home. Talk to a
real estate agent or broker who works on a regular basis in your neighborhood
and immediate surrounding area. The housing market actually differs in every
area and the national statistics do not apply in each individual case. Homes in your neighborhood - at your price
point - may or may not be selling well. Seek the advice of a seasoned local realtor.
They can help you determine how you can best sell your home – and what a
realistic timeframe might be.
Step Two - Price the house right.
You may not get what you might have
3 years ago but those days are long gone and today’s prices will be around for
many years ahead. In general, houses that are priced right sell faster with a
minimum of negotiation.
Step Three - Make your house the most aesthetically
appealing of competing houses for sale in your market.
Curb Appeal
Ask your realtor about other houses
on the market in your area and an opinion as to how your property aesthetically
compares. Little tweaks make a big difference, including the power of “curb
appeal.” Ask yourself, how does the house look when the buyer first pulls up?
Welcoming, neat, tidy or “that’s going to require a lot of work.”
De-personalize
The inside of the house needs to
look like the home that your potential buyer would want to occupy - one they
can make their own home. The buyer
should not feel that this is someone else’s home, which means the space needs
to be “de-personalized.” And there is often a lot of emotion that goes along
with removing from view personal items such as family photos, collections and collectables,
hobby equipment, and general accumulated “stuff.” Maybe planning where you
might put those personal items for maximum enjoyment in your new home can help
to keep the task on a positive note.
Fix and Freshen
Following the de-personalization process,
take inventory of things on the inside and outside of the house that need to be
fixed or freshened. Potential buyers will always favor a house that feels
move-in ready over one that needs “elbow grease” or out-of-pocket repairs. Get
a recommendation from someone whose opinion you trust about a reputable
handy-man company that is bonded and insured - and can accomplish the work in a
reasonable timeframe. The dollars spent on the front end will come back to you
in the sale price.
Sensible Updates
Next, take inventory of items that
are outdated. Countertops, faucets, light fixtures, and carpets deserve an
objective look as to how potential buyers might react to them. Consider if the
cost to replace or update is worth it for the convenience of a fast sale and to
sell at the highest possible price point. If your walls look drab, a new coat
of neutral paint freshens up the look and can go a long way to a favorable
reaction from potential buyers. Clean the rugs and shine the floors. Don’t let
a stain or wear and tear on furniture, draperies and carpet ruin that all
important first impression.
Streamline
Showcase all the living space your
home offers. Identify and remove extraneous furniture and show as much floor
space as possible. Floor space feels like abundant square footage to a
potential buyer whereas a room that is crowded feels smaller with less
potential. If there are furniture pieces that are not traveling with you to
your chosen retirement community, ask your community representative for the
name of a trusted resource to help sell, donate, and/or remove those items.
De-clutter
The last and arguably most
important yet often overwhelming strategy for making your house outclass the
competition for a fast sale: de-clutter – really, really de-clutter. Even the
thought of going through a lifetime of accumulated treasures can be stressful.
At best it can still be a daunting task. The best advice is to get help from a
professional in senior moves and don’t try to do it yourselves. You be the
manager and let someone else help with the leg work. Work together one closet or
room at a time and separate items into areas marked Keep, Toss, Donate, Sell or
Store. It may be necessary to simply store certain things off site until other
tasks are accomplished.
Store
Make no mistake, closets, cabinets
and drawers will be peeked into by potential buyers and need to be neat and not
overstuffed. Remove the items you rarely
use, and put them in storage bins, which also could be stored off site during
the time the house is on the market. Potential buyers also like clutter-free kitchen
counters so tuck the toaster and coffee maker neatly in a cabinet where it will
be behind closed doors but still accessible to you while the home is on the
market.
Share
I like the idea of having an
informal “keepsake party” where friends and relatives are invited to see and
reminisce about the items in the Donate and/or Store categories. It is a
wonderful feeling to pass down treasures and know they will be enjoyed by
others. Take photographs of the items along with the recipients and record them
in a keepsakes scrapbook or photo album. It will provide a great chronicle of old
and new memories with loved ones without taking up premium physical space in
your new home.
Enjoy
Even though we look forward to the
end result – a new home where life is easier and more fun – we sometimes dread
the moving and home sale process. Hopefully, being informed about your market,
planning ahead, and getting help with the logistics can make the task feel more
possible, more manageable and less stressful, so you can start enjoying your
freedom.
back to top