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Thinking of Selling Your Home? Plan Ahead - Way Ahead!

Reblogger
Real Estate Agent with RE/MAX Alliance in St.Louis' Illinois suburbs 475.122155

Here's a great post from my blogging colleague Judy Klem in Connecticut. Take a look at her check list while you're evaluating when to put your home on the market.  What she writes to help her east coast clients is just as valuable to my Midwestern clients here in St. Louis' Illinois suburbs.

So if you're thinking about selling your home in Edwardsville, Glen Carbon, Maryville, Troy, Collinsville or any of our Metro East communities, this information will help you organize your thoughts and get prepared for a quicker and easier sale and possibly less time on the market.

Read on...

Original content by Judy Klem

Thinking of Selling Your Home? Plan Ahead - Way Ahead!

Getting your home ready to sell? The basic equation goes something like this: Time + Effort + Money = Ready to Sell. It's very easy to underestimate the time, effort and money it takes to get your house ready to sell. Stint on the time element here, and the others go up. What does this mean? If you don't have much time, you'll need more effort, so bringing in helpers will be required, which will likely cost more money.

One way to illustrate how much time, effort and money is required to handle the necessary tasks is to have you visualize the last time you packed away everything in a bookcase.

You got a couple of boxes, and starting unloading the bookcase. Got a couple more boxes, more unloading, repeat as necessary. Unless you're great at estimating these things, you probably needed about 4 times the number of boxes you initially thought you'd require (with added cost if you bought them) and it took quite a bit longer than you estimated, depending on the size of the bookcase. Or closet. Or dresser.

What's my point? Since most people don't move very frequently, there is a tendency to forget the incredible amount of work that goes into just packing up the house. To get a home ready for sale, you'll need to do a fair amount of pre-packing to simply declutter.

Then, when you take a good look around, or have a home stager do it for you, you'll find that you have a very long list of repairs and tasks to refresh the look of your home. Few people can devote all their time to doing this work. So, unless you can call in a crew of helpers, or you're willing to hire a stager to act in your stead with her crew, you'll need to plan ahead. Way ahead.

 

Project Plan

 

Suggested Timeline

 - A year ahead, determine the areas of your home that contain things you know you want to give away. Set aside several hours per week to purge those items, and get them right out of the house - give away useful items to charity, take broken and unusable items to the dump, etc. If you have a large amount of purging, you might want to get a dumpster, and set an absolute deadline for completion of this task.

 - Six months ahead, make a master list of repairs and start tackling them every week. This is especially important if you have major outdoor repairs to your roof, siding, deck, or walkways. Remember that you'll probably need to hire people to do some or all of these repairs, and the good people are booked months in advance.

 - Three months ahead, have a consultation with your agent and a home stager. Determine what needs to be painted, and make a plan for appropriate colors with your stager. Your stager can also give you a plan for which pieces of furniture and which accessories you should keep and which should either be put into storage or given away. Pre-packing begins in earnest here.

- One month ahead, there should be no more major repairs required. From here on, most work should be cosmetic. Your stager will help with every space, starting with your home's curb appeal.

- One week ahead, the final staging should be complete. Your home stager will provide a list of how to keep everything looking fresh. The agent's photographer should be booked, and your home photographed to show off its wonderful features on the MLS.

- The day of the open house, check that everything is clean and tidy. Lock up all valuables and prescriptions. Open the blinds and curtains to let in the light, and turn on lights in every room. Set the temperature to be comfortable for those coming to view your home. Take your family and pets away from the house for the day. Be available by cell phone so the agent can get in touch if necessary.


Benefits of a Longer Timeline

OK. Are you thinking this timeline is too long? Do you have a story to prove that you can do all of this in a much shorter time frame? I know it can be done; it just tends to be much more stressful and means late nights every night and working all weekend before getting back to "real work" on Monday morning.

Having a longer timeline means you really can sort out all that stuff you don't want to pack - and pay to move - only to stack it in the new garage or attic for sorting at a future time. Having more time means that you don't need to choose between spending time packing and fixing, or preparing that important presentation for work.

Getting things done way in advance means that you're not stuck having to pay for extra help at the last minute - or finding that even ready money can't hire anyone at the last minute, and you miss the opportunity to really showcase your home at the open house.

Very few of us live in an immaculate, minimalist home where preparing for a sale means arranging a few decorative objects. Planning ahead can save you money, stress, and time spent burning the midnight oil.

 

And it places your home ahead of the competition because it stands out from the crowd - inviting, organized, spacious, light - appealing to your buyers and bringing an offer sooner rather than later. Which is really the point of all this work, isn't it?



Thinking of Selling Your Home? Plan Ahead - Way Ahead!

 

Thanks so much for visiting!
Judy Klem

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Enjoy life in the (618) area code in Southwestern Illinois, St. Louis' Illinois suburbs. SEARCH FOR HOMES HERE.

 

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I help good people buy and sell good homes in St. Louis' Illinois suburbs, with special emphasis on the Metro East communities of Edwardsville, Glen Carbon, Maryville, Collinsville, Troy and surrounding areas in Madison County, Illinois.

Are you a teacher, firefighter, law enforcement officer, medical professional or active duty or retired military? Then ask me about Homes for Heroes, offering substantial savings on home purchases. Learn more at Homes For Heroes.

For more information or to search for homes, visit my sites at NancyMilton.com618Life.com, or GoshenRealtyGroup.com or send an email to me at Nancy@GoshenRealtyGroup.com. Text or call Nancy Milton Holtzscher, your Edwardsville Realtor, at 618-791-8007 any time.

REMAX Preferred Partners is located at One 157 Center, Edwardsville, IL 62025, 618-791-8007 (direct) 618-655-1188 (office). We're easy to find on IL-157 in Edwardsville between Pasta House Co. and Shenanigans. Each office is independently owned and operated.

Comments (2)

Cara Marcelle Mancuso
Golden Girls with SW Desert Homes - Tucson, AZ
Call a Marana neighbor, I'm THERE!

Thank you for this great re-blog.  What a resource!  I have clients now busy fixing and repairing for a SEPTEMBER market date.  I love clients that plan ahead!

Jun 20, 2011 04:34 AM
Judy Klem
Transition Stage LLC - Shelton, CT
Home Staging, Senior Move Management, Fairfield/New Haven counties

Hi Nancy - Thanks very much for this re-blog! I really appreciate it.

Jun 20, 2011 08:46 AM