Home : Blogs : Take 5 Team : Take 5 Team Blog

FSBO Help Part 1: "Thinking INSIDE the Box"

FSBO Help Part 1:
"Thinking INSIDE the Box: Packing to Stay Ahead of the Pack"

No matter whether you are using a realtor or selling your home yourself, the first thing you can do to make your home more appealing to buyers is to pre-pack your things. Before you repaint, before you think about staging, before you even think about putting a sign in the yard, you should take all of the things that aren't necessary to your everyday life and put them in boxes. Many sellers don't pre-pack for a variety of reasons. Read on for the most common excuses.

#1 Excuse for Not Pre-Packing: "I Don't Have Anywhere to Put the Boxes"
This excuse is usually the most common, but makes the least sense. Self-storage facilities are plentiful and cost very little. You can generally find them for less tha $100 per month. If this is still outside of your budget, ask friends and family if you can leave a few boxes at each of their homes.

#2 Excuse for Not Pre-Packing: "If I Don't Sell the House, It's a Waste of Time to Pack"
You should be doing everything you can in order to sell the house, not avoiding doing things in case you don't sell the house. Avoiding packing in case you don't sell the house is counterproductive. Also if you are that pessimistic, you might need to re-evaluate what you are doing to get the house sold (i.e. Is it priced right? Are you marketing it effectively? Etc.)

#3 Excuse for Not Pre-Packing: "I Should Be Able to Keep My Things in My House Until I Sell It"
This is precisely the problem. Buyers have a hard time separating your things from your house in order to imagine it as their house. You want to have as little of your personal style coming through as possible. Buyers will respond better to neutrality, and this means putting (and packing) your personal things away.

Pre-packing neutralizes your home, so that buyers have an easier time seeing it as their home. It's the first step in preparing your home to go on the market. Best of all, once you sell it... it's that much less that you have to do to get ready to move!

(This is the first post in our 7 part series "FSBO Help"...Add us to your "favorites" and stay tuned for more!)

FSBO Help Part 2: "Why Staging is Taking Center Stage"
FSBO Help Part 3: "Top 10 Tips to Sell Your Home Faster Than the Neighbors (tips 1-5)"
FSBO Help Part 4: "Top 10 Tips to Sell Your Home Faster Than the Neighbors (tips 6-10)"

Meghan Mullee
Jupiter, FL Real Estate
www.take5team.com

Posted by Take 5 Team on 02/26/2008 01:08 PM

Comments (3)

take 5 team, real estate, fsbo, fsbo help, packing, prepacking, selfstorage, realtor, meghan mullee, jupiter real estate

This post has been included in Florida Information Palm Beach County, FL Information Jupiter, FL Information

3 Comments on FSBO Help Part 1: "Thinking INSIDE the Box"

FEB

2008

Another great term for this is "de-clutter" It is amazing though how much people feel they need to keep in the home while it is listed.

I think this is a great idea. And if we pitch it as it makes for less work when they do sell then maybe we can get more to actually do this. I worked in Model homes for years before I got into Real Estate and I know the clutter free tastefully decorated homes sell much faster.

Meghan, I'd like to add one more thing, encourage the sellers to donate unwanted goods or have a MOVING SALE! Help them with the moving sale! It's great for marketing and getting to know the neighbors who may help sell the house! Good post.

Leave a response…

Name:

Email:
(optional)

Comment:

What does the graphic say?