Last month’s topic of the day month was about the best time to sell a house. The tl; dr conclusion from that effort was that you will face more competition in the spring and summer, but it generally is still worth it. More people are shopping, more people are selling, and homes tend to get higher prices. So for today’s class, let’s talk about how you can use the upcoming winter of our discontent to get ready for the glory of selling season. What can you do now to maximize your profits when it’s time to go?
STEP ONE – THE PURGE
Get rid of it! Lighten the load. We’ve all moved before so we know what a pain it can be, but you’ve got months so you don’t need to stress about it too much. Once you start though, it all starts getting easier. Go room by room to make it feel less daunting.
Throw out anything you really don’t want or need. Sell or donate items. Use Facebook Marketplace, your community’s Buy Nothing, Goodwill, Habitat for Humanity, or anywhere else you can move some merch in relatively easy fashion. Don’t be shy about putting a roll-off dumpster in your driveway, which you can do for a few hundred bucks. Hot tip there: if you do get a dumpster, get one with a lid unless you want everyone in your neighborhood filling it for you in the dead of night.
For the stuff that you’re keeping but don’t need for your day-to-day life, box it up. Go down to Home Depot and get a whole bunch of medium-sized boxes. More than you think you’ll need. Those are your workhorse boxes- they never get too heavy and they stack easily- and start filling them up. They can stay in your garage until you move, since garages aren’t photographed for real estate listings.
While you’re in the box aisle, get some of those inserts that hold cups and glasses (what are they called? Who knows). Also, get a bunch of paper to wrap said glasses in, and bubble wrap. And clear packing tape, with a dispenser. Get two of those, the one you’re looking for will be in the other room and that’s annoying.
The end goal of step one is to make the next steps manageable and less time-consuming. You’re putting your house into a state of readiness. You’re par-baking it.
STEP TWO – FIX IT
You don’t have to fix everything that’s wrong with your house- nobody is selling a perfect home- but there are fixes you should make because if you don’t, they’ll come up during a buyer’s inspection and cost you even more. There are the little things that don’t matter much to you but will distract buyers, such as windows and doors that don’t latch properly, rotted deck boards, lights that don’t work, etc. Any routine maintenance that you may have deferred (not judging) should be done, like cleaning the gutters or getting the HVAC serviced. Check out your attic and crawlspace. It’s better (and cheaper) if you’re the one to find gross things there rather than the buyer’s inspector.
Speaking of home inspectors, you may want to consider hiring one to do a preinspection. These are usually a little cheaper than a buyer’s inspection, and will provide you with a checklist of items you can knock out. There are pros and cons to doing a preinspection though, so it’s a good discussion to have with your Realtor.
You want buyers to see your home as one that is visibly well-maintained. There’s a lot of anxiety that goes into purchasing a home, and leaps of faith that they’re not buying a money pit. Make it easier for buyers to feel confident that they’re making the right decision.
Also, any neglected maintenance items will come up during the buyer’s inspection. At that point the buyer has more leverage than the seller, and it might be difficult to get estimates to fix stuff in that shortened window. If it’s an obvious fix- mold in the attic, for example- get it taken care of yourself before it either costs you more money or causes your buyer to walk. If they see enough little problems, they’ll assume there are bigger problems they’re not seeing.
STEP THREE – IMPROVEMENTS
Don’t do too much. It doesn’t matter that your kitchen looks like 1990 if everything’s clean and works. You’ll be pricing the house accordingly. Spending big bucks to update the kitchen and bathrooms (the two places where updates are most visible) will rarely get you a positive return on investment, even if you got a deal on all that subway tile.
There are a few places where you can make a modest investment that will help the marketability of your house:
- Paint. If you’ve got weird colors going, consider going neutral. If it’s looking dingy or you’ve got too many holes after you took down all the Picassos, paint. Brighter walls make for better photos. Also think about painting your front door. You know, the one you haven’t seen in two years because you enter through the garage. Buyers will see it, and they will judge if it’s a mess.
- Floors. If the carpet is old, or you have pets, at least get it professionally cleaned. You can’t smell it but your visitors can. If it’s beyond hope, replace. Don’t try and cover up the wine spill either, any Realtor worth their salt will be suspicious of a throw rug placed over a carpet or an end table where it shouldn’t be. Hardwood floors can also be refinished if the dog has scratched them up too much.
- Landscaping. This falls in the very general category of “curb appeal.” You must have curb appeal because the first thing anyone sees of your house is the front of it in a photo on Zillow.
About that last point. Our local MLS here in Portland mandates that the first photo in the listing be one of the exterior of your house. If you thought you could start your photo selection with the kitchen while hiding the Superfund site you’ve got going outside, you can’t.
Bottom line on improvements is don’t spend too much. You do want to make your house as good as it can look for the photos and showings, but not if you’re going to net less money doing so. In other words, don’t spend $50k on a kitchen if the comps tell you that you’ll only get $25k back.
STEP FOUR – THE HOMESTRETCH
You’ve seriously AND I MEAN SERIOUSLY decluttered your house. Maintenance issues have been addressed. A few modest improvements have been made. Now what? You’re not done yet.
Between yourself and your Realtor, figure out a target date for listing the house. That date will be 24-48 hours after your photo day. You are aiming to make the house perfect for photo day. When the photographer shows up (and I mean a real, professional, home photographer- not your agent using a first-generation iPhone), have these things done:
- The house should be as clean as it has ever been. This includes the windows.
- All light bulbs should be working, and at the same color temperature. Mismatched color temperatures are a sign of a sloppy listing.
- Counters should be free of clutter (no toothpaste in the bathroom, no cereal box on the kitchen counter, etc.)
- Make your beds, and neatly fold your bath and hand towels.
- Mow the lawn.
- Take your cars out of the driveway, hide your garbage cans, and wind that garden hose back up on the spool. If you have outdoor umbrellas, open them (rain or shine!)
Your Realtor will be there (well they should, anyway) ahead of the photographer to do a final walk-through, open the blinds just so, and turn on all the lights.
Much of the above assumes you’re still living in the house when it’s on market. If you’ve already vacated, have the talk with your Realtor about staging. For most houses it’ll cost $2-3k and I personally believe it makes a huge difference.
I’m ignoring the question of how to accurately price your house for the market, as that’s a whole other kettle of fish. Suffice to say though, your Realtor should be providing you with data (lots of it) and recommendations which you can use to then decide on the price and strategy. That being said, what you decide to list your house for can quite literally be the last decision you make before clicking the button to go live.
That’s it! That’s all you have to do. I’m kidding of course, there’s plenty more, but this should give you a plan to work/work to plan. Did you have better things to do this winter?
