Saturday, March 8, 2008
Stay focused while your house is on the market
Ellen James Martin / Special to
The Detroit News
For the family of five, it took
three months and 27 showings before they struck a deal for
the sale of their small, ranch-style house. Though 90 days
or longer is now the norm in their neighborhood, they
experienced the lengthy selling period as one long ordeal --
involving lots of yelling.
"With three kids, ages 6 to 14,
the couple had a tremendously hard time keeping the house as
immaculate as necessary to make a positive impression on
visitors. When they finally got an offer, they breathed a
huge sigh of relief," recalls Sid Davis, the real estate
broker who listed their 10-year-old house.
As this story illustrates, the
strain of keeping an unsold home looking good can mount over
time.
"Whenever a house takes more than
a month to sell, everyone is under duress. This period is
particularly stressful for people with small kids or
teenagers," says Davis, author of "A Survival Guide for
Selling a Home."
Davis says, sellers in these
competitive markets need both patience and coping strategies
to keep their homes in showable condition.
Here are several suggestions:
• Get your home in good order.
As a former real
estate agent turned professional organizer, Vicki Norris
knows how tough it can be to keep a For Sale house in prime
showing shape. It's especially hard when the turmoil of a
move is overlaid on another family issue -- such as the need
to find nursing care for an elder parent.
"When life takes us
off track and we get disorganized, I call that 'situational
disorganization.' It's doubly hard for someone dealing with
a major life event to add a move to their plate," says
Norris, who heads her own consulting firm, Restoring Order (
www.restoringorder.com).
To reduce upkeep
demands, Norris urges would-be sellers to streamline their
homes before heading into the market. That means sorting
through excess items, putting these in storage. It also
means designating a spot for all your remaining possessions.
To ready their homes for showtime,
an increasing number of sellers are turning to professional
organizers, who are generally less judgmental than the
friends and family members who might agree to help you
de-clutter. You can find a professional through the National
Association of Professional Organizers (
www.napo.net).
• Store your excess belongings.
You may want to hang on to your
collections of bowling trophies, Civil War books, antique
tea cups and gourmet kitchen gadgets. Yet leaving these in
view while your home is shown to prospects could make it
less inviting and harder to sell.
One option is to pack your
collections in uniform-sized boxes, stacking these neatly in
your garage.
Yet, as Davis says, you could be
better off keeping these boxes in a rented storage unit
until your property sells.
"The garage has become a more
important feature of the house, due to all the home and
garden TV shows and magazines telling people they should fix
up and decorate this space. So, if feasible, it's better to
avoid packing boxes into your garage, which will make it
look cramped," Davis says.
• Use a top-quality cleaning
service.
Are you a little more slovenly
than you care to advertise to potential buyers of your home?
If so, you may wish to invest in what Davis calls a
"super-duper cleaning."
"At least once at the beginning of
your sale, you need to get rid of every bit of dust and
cobwebs. You also need to purge the place of all those dead
insects and make sure your chandeliers get the attention
they deserve. Either you do all this work yourself or you
bring in pros," Davis says.
Though it could cost a few hundred
dollars, one in-depth cleaning could spare you the need to
repeat the process for another 60 to 90 days.
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