We are getting ready to put our house on the market. We have outgrown it. This is not a great time to sale a house. But it is spring, and after praying about it, we feel like this is what our family is suppose to do right now.
So we have been cleaning, de-cluttering, spring cleaning, whatever we can to make someone want to buy our house. So we have asked for advice from our neighbor who just sold their house. And also my parents who sold their house a few years ago, and our realtor.
The thing my parents said to do was to take yourself out of your house. Take down all the family photos. And get rid of the clutter. What is out of place. What doesn't have a place. So we have rented a storage unit to put the things in we don't use right now. We have taken several loads to Deseret Industries.
The realtor said to take down any religious items. Pictures of the temple, Portraits of the Prophet or Christ.
Our neighbor said to clean out closets so they will look larger. Also to take the leaves out of the dining table so the dining room looks bigger.
I have also done research online. Here are some sites that had great advice:
http://articles.directorym.com/5_tips_to_get_your_home_ready_for_sale_Utah-r860143-Utah.html
http://homebuying.about.com/od/sellingahouse/ht/homeprep.htm
So now I want to know what some of you think. Do you think in Utah it would make that much difference if my family's photos are displayed. If I have a picture of the temple, Christ, President Monson on the wall it will make that much difference. Please tell me your opinion and give me some help. I thank you ahead of time for all your ideas. We don't want to have it on the market for very long. We want to be able to move this year, even this summer.
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6 comments:
My guess would be that your target market group would 90% be Mormon, and wouldn't think anything of it. But If all the other people who have shared their knowledge with you think you should take down the stuff, then maybe they know what they are talking about. Good luck! We out grew our home 3 kids ago but the market here in Michigan is much worse than in Utah. I am jealous in a nice way :)
We are also selling our house. But we are selling reluctantly (a long, economically sad story). So I have not done much to the house. There's a huge Greg Olsen print of Christ in the living room and in the family room. Either they like it or not. I have decluttered a bit but for the most part no. Signed- Grumpy seller.
Where are you moving? Please tell me that you are going to try to stay in the ward too!?! (It seems to be the trend! lol)
As a past realtor and currently having a husband as a realtor, the best advice is just make sure it looks CLEAN & PRISTINE with NO CLUTTER. Right now with the market, buyers don't want to have to make repairs unless they are getting a KILLER deal. So just make sure everything looks good!
As far as family pics and such... my personal thoughts are that you should probably remove the personal items but maybe leave one or two family pics out. People do like to see who is living in the house, but also need to be able to imagine them living in it also. When we put our house up for sale we just left our plant shelves decorated which has an old family picture up there...
As far as the temple and Christ pictures... My first thought was just to keep them up... But then what if someone who happened to NOT be LDS looked at your home. Would it affect how they viewed the home? Who knows? Maybe just keep the Christ pictures and take down the temple pictures?
I remember showing a home to non-members when I was a Realtor in St. George and there was religious pictures on the wall... I don't think they cared at all and actually commented how pretty they were... So it would just depend on your buyer...
And if they get THAT turned off by a religious picture then we don't want them in the neighborhood anyway! lol
So as we were getting ready this past weekend, I had the thought. When we went to go look at a house, we would picture where our stuff would go. The house we are currently interested in is empty, so it is easy. The thought is: If we take down our things, then it will be easier for the buyer to see where they would put thigs. And what if the picture of the temple isn't what they like. Or what if they can't picture their favorite picture of Christ where we have ours. So now I feel better about removing all of these things.
To Linda: I'm so sorry. That would not be how I would have it. I know we had to move several times as a child, and I hated it. I know I didn't help my parents as much as my kids are helping me. I hated leaving friends. I hated leaving my room. But then the adventure of new friends and a new house was great. As an adult I have rented a lot, and had the house sale while we were living in it. 12 times in one year. But after that, I've lived in 2 houses. I do hope you are going to move into a wonderful neighborhood that you will love. I also hope that things go well, and you can be happy in the end of this.
To Cherie: Yes, we are trying to staying in the ward. We love it. But we have greatly outgrown this home. I do like your idea of putting a smaller family picture up on the shelf, and taking down the others. Thanks for the advice, though I hope they feel they are getting a killer deal and then we won't have to make as many repairs. Like repainting the front room or bedrooms.
When I was doing that stuff a few years ago, my teacher , who is a returned missionary, and very good at his current job, told us to have the clients take ALL religious, and personal artifacts down, weather they be Mormon, Catholic, Buddhist, or anything else. The reason they tell you to take personal items down is because you want the people viewing the home to be able to see themselves in it, not feel like they are in your personal space.
We sold at a $13,000 loss in KS last year and we are currently trying to buy right now. The market is such that it is hard for both the buyer and the seller. I suspect you will find both selling and buying a VERY long, hard road. But I would caution: Don't expect to get more money out of new appliances, carpeting etc. New neutral paint probably helps, though, and keeping it clean, decluttered and smelling good helps. One doesn't like to look at a house and think "HOw much time will it take me to clean this place up before we can move in?" Good luck. I am glad we are through the selling and it all goes well, we will be through the buying on Thursday.
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