I am quickly learning that for one I would have never wanted to live ‘back in the day” or two, be Amish….being disconnected is terrible. We moved into out house last Tuesday and decided the next day which internet/cable provider we would go with and I placed a call to get our installation scheduled. We were scheduled to have everything set up in one week. It was a long week….thankfully I can get on the internet when Alex gets home from work but as far as my PBS addicted child we were lucky enough to hit the jackpot on DVDs at the library (thanks Grandma). So yesterday came and the installation man (our knight in shining armor) arrived only to tell us the house was ran with outdated wires and would be to be rerun before he could hook anything up?!? The next time they could come back to hook up after we switched cables….another week. So here we are the start of waiting another week to be “connected” again. This whole thing wouldn’t be as bad if it was at least in the upper 60’s but no, not ever close, we are excepting around 8 inches of snow tonight LOL. At this point our cabin fever is just comical.
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I have had a lot of people both here and on facebook as me about how we sold out house so quickly (in a market that was overrun with inventory and “cookie cutter developments'”) so I thought i’d just write up some things that we did because there was a science behind it (thanks to a lot of internet research and a great realtor).
1. Depersonalize to an extreme – there was not ONE picture of Liam, us, family…anyone in our house. This was one of the most important tips. People want to walk in and picture themselves in the house, they don’t want to see you or have any feeling of someone living there before them.
1a. Make lots of time to fill in said nail holes…oh and make sure you have the correct paint to touch up with :-)
2. Neutralize paint and decor. We got feedback from every showing we had on our home and the one thing that every person said was “great paint colors”. Our living room, hallway, common areas, guest room, and master bath were all a warn tan (something like Sherwin Williams “whole wheat”). Our dining room and master bedroom was a dark sage green. Liam’s room was a very light blue which was the only room that has a non-neutral color. Our half bath downstairs was a chocolate brown and our guest bath was a light green. Our kitchen was a warm gold color with a rich dark red accent wall behind the appliances.
2a. Although paint may seem like nothing to some people buyers cannot see past paint so just change it up from the start.
2b. Blank wall are okay. I had a hard time with this until i lived with it and realized it gave such a clean feel to the house. Don’t worry about putting up other pictures if you take personal ones down.
3. We had stock cabinet in our house and added simple nickel knobs to them and boy, oh, boy did it make a difference. I just got the value pack at Target.
4. Rent a storage unity and take out 75% of your stuff. Liam lived on one box of toys for a few months while everything else was stored during the prep/on the market process.
4a. Empty your closet except for your “nice” close and a few staples you wear all the time. My closet was PACKED (to say the least) and at the end I only had about 10% of it filled.
4b. Maximize space by taking out a lot of furniture. In our guest room/office we used to have a full bed, dresser, chair, night stand, book shelf and desk. When the house went on the market we had the bed and desk (with nothing on it).
5. Offer a home warranty. It close about $500, for us, but was a big selling point to buyers because it is a security net if anything was to happen.
6. Market with your asset, our yard was the biggest selling point for us and our realtor talked it up! Find what makes you stand out from your competition. We had seven other houses for sale in the same development as us and we pin pointed what made us different and went with it. When you are trying to sell in a “cookie cutter” suburban town you have got to make something stand out to set you apart from everyone else.
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