We are almost finished with our 13 week course! This past week we heard about real estate. It was a great opportunity to hear what Dave says about selling (and buying) your home. A few things struck me…
First, he said try to see past the cosmetics. How true this is! Our first home was in Maryland and it was beautiful…on the outside. The inside…well…lets just say PINK. Everything was pink! All the walls were a pale pink and there was wallpaper everywhere. The carpet was, I’m guessing, the original builder’s cheap stuff. It was cream…dingy…with pee stains EVERYWHERE. Yikes!
We bought the house and basically painted, carpeted and stripped ALL the wallpaper. It was quite an undertaking and in the end it was a beautiful house. We sold it for a nice profit (when the market was at it’s top) and moved South.
Second, he mentioned that if you are selling, make it look like a model home. Make it look like no one lives there. Umm…little difficulty on this one. I know that you should purge and put away and keep it clean, but how do you do that when you actually LIVE in your home?
Our first home sold within 4 days…did I mention the market was hot? We had a house cleaner (who was FABULOUS and I miss her now) who deep cleaned everything and then we left for the weekend for it to show. We returned from our 4 day trip with 4 offers and that was it. EASY! Didn’t have to worry about keeping it clean again.
If I had to sell my house now, I don’t think I could keep it “model” perfect. I can hardly keep the dining room table clutter free! The stress of trying to keep it clean with 3 children and a dog would drive me over the edge. I even mentioned to my husband that if we had to sell our house now, we’d have to move out of it first. Either that or sell the kids and the dog!
