It can be daunting - thinking about all you have to do to ready your house for the home-selling market and then, what’s more, the time it will take to do all that. But don’t despair…there are many people who can help you from yours truly (real estate agents) to stagers to house cleaners to handy men/women to painters and more. To make this complicated and often overwhelming subject easier to digest, I’ve split my analysis into three categories* so you can determine which category best fits you and your house:
So without further ado, here we go….
1. Homes that can be listed in a week - these are the kinds of homes that you walk into and can eat off the floor. And they are a rarity and not the norm, I might add. The owners don’t have much clutter, and the house looks basically staged upon entering it. We use the expression “lightly lived in” to describe these homes. Maybe there is some touch up painting that needs to be done and an ever so slight amount of decluttering, but that’s about it. The work - if any - is so minimal that it can be done in a day. And so the timing to get the house onto the market really has to do with scheduling the floor plan person and the photography plus getting all of the MLS details and marketing copy confirmed.
2. Homes that can be listed within a month - these homes are in need of patching and painting in areas, some decluttering and minor repairs. And the timing to take care of these to-dos is dependent on hiring people to complete the projects, which can take time. There also could be some minor staging needed to freshen the look of the house. In other words, moving some furniture out of rooms and adding staged pieces to other rooms. These types of homes are more typically what we see in our line of business. For all of this work to be done, it could take a few weeks. Once everything is completed, the house is ready for the final photography and getting it onto the market.
3. Homes that take more than a month to be listed - these homes require quite a bit of work, especially decluttering, which can be very time-consuming. These home owners have often lived there for 30+ years accruing all kinds of memorabilia, furniture, accessories, photos and more. Like the homes in Category 2, we see these types of properties quite regularly as well. In these situations, it is prudent to hire estate sale and moving process companies to help all of the items find their right landing places, whether it be to the sellers’ next home, their children, Goodwill, a consignment store or the trash. There also may be some more significant repairs that need to be addressed and those fixes can also take time.
And finally, I can’t write about the subject of readying your house for the market and not put in a plug for our very own Compass Concierge program. “Exclusive to our clients, Compass Concierge helps you sell your home faster and for more money by covering the cost of services to prepare your home for market. From staging to home improvements and more, with no hidden fees or interest charged, ever.” Click here to learn more about this amazing initiative.
With all that said, what are your thoughts on readying your home for sale? Have you found yourself in this situation, and if so, was your home in category 1, 2 or 3? Anything you learned from the home readying process? I can’t wait to hear….
For more information on this or about the real estate market in Weston, Wellesley, Wayland and the surrounding towns or if you are considering selling your home, please contact me, Lisa Curlett (www.lisacurlett.com, 781-267-2844 or lisa.curlett@compass.com), to answer any questions or for a complimentary home appraisal.
* Note that I created these three categories as a guideline, but in reality, there are all kinds of houses with a variety of preparation needs and timelines.