Meriwether Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 We've never actively tried to sell a house before, so I've never been on this side of things. We live on five acres in the country. Our house was built in the late '70's. Most of the house is nice (the kitchen is...servicable) but dated. We have 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, two living areas, a dining room, and the schoolroom in the basement. The laundry room is lovely - maybe the nicest room in the house. The house has a lot of potential. We were going to redo the kitchen when we bought it but found out within the first year that we would be transferred relatively soon. All that to say, the house isn't anyone's dream house, but it is a really beautiful five acres and the house isn't awful. Not many acreages come up for sale in this area. There may be only one other on the market that would be somewhat comparable to ours. We have had the house listed for about 1 week. Before we had it listed, the real estate ageant told us they knew of someone who wanted to see it - small town, I'm not sure how they knew we were selling but word got out that Dh was transferring. That someone looked at it for an hour on Monday. They are coming again tonight. Let's assume the house is already clean and straightened (I'm not staging the house, but I did straighten up cupboards and box up knick-knacks). What can I do in say, three hours, to make the house nicer. I can't imagine what they looked at for an hour. I can't figure out what they want to look at tonight that they haven't already seen. This may be our one best (only) chance to sell this house in the 90 day period the company gives us. I don't want to blow it, but I'm not sure what they are going to be looking for/at tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonfirmath Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 When I went back the second time, I typically took a measuring tape and measured areas to fit the furniture I wanted to put there. Especially in the kitchen I'd open cupboards and decide if there was enough space for my dishes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
applethyme Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Vacuum, sweep, make sure your windows are clean and bake cookies. My mom was a professional house cleaner for several years. People assume a house is very clean if there are vacuum lines in the carpet and the windows are clean. It shows that your home is really well cared for. My sisters real estate agent told her to bake cookies on the days she was showing the house (even if they are just slice and bake) because most people associate the smell of cookies baking with good memories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meriwether Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 When I went back the second time, I typically took a measuring tape and measured areas to fit the furniture I wanted to put there. Especially in the kitchen I'd open cupboards and decide if there was enough space for my dishes. Great! This is the kind of thing I wanted to know. I can check the cupboards to make sure they look neat. Should I remove some dishes to make them look roomier? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 When we went back a 2nd time it was for one of two reasons.....1. Dh hadn't looked at it yet and it had made it to my "top 5" list, or 2. It was in our final top 3-5 list and we were deciding between the top houses. I am looking at listing our house in a few months (shooting for late Feb.) and plan to store about 1/2 of our stuff in storage OR actually get rid of 50% of our stuff! I now have 3 sets of dishes.....what was I thinking????? I don't know if I will store the nicer set or sell it, but it needs to go! I am a kitchen gadget junkie and my cupboards prove it! I need to PURGE or store. I am currently looking at homes online. I saw a couple of houses that showed very nicely. They look like noone actually lives there, so closets are almost empty, rooms only have a bed and maybe a nightstand or small dresser, etc.... I am half tempted to ask DH if we can just buy a 2nd home and move there while ours shows....I don't know if I can keep ours clean! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meriwether Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 When we went back a 2nd time it was for one of two reasons.....1. Dh hadn't looked at it yet and it had made it to my "top 5" list, or 2. It was in our final top 3-5 list and we were deciding between the top houses. This is good to know, also, there is not a 3-5 list here. We are it in this price range with this type of acreage if the other house sold. I'm taking it as a good sign that they want to see it again. I am looking at listing our house in a few months (shooting for late Feb.) and plan to store about 1/2 of our stuff in storage OR actually get rid of 50% of our stuff! I now have 3 sets of dishes.....what was I thinking????? I don't know if I will store the nicer set or sell it, but it needs to go! I am a kitchen gadget junkie and my cupboards prove it! I need to PURGE or store. Dh's company will buy this house. We had a really bad appraisal, though, and will lose money if it doesn't sell to someone in the next 90 days for what we paid for it. The house isn't bad, just the appraisal (They didn't count one whole level of the house. It is a split level. The level that is below the front door level is considered basement and they didn't count that bedroom and bathroom in total number of bedrooms and bathrooms. They didn't count the sq. ft. They compared the 1700 sq. ft. of our upper two levels to a 1,200 sq. ft. house with no finished basement.:confused: Nevermind that with our three splits and the actual basement we have 3,400 sq. ft. We just found out about the appraisal a few weeks ago. We just decided to try selling it ourselves before we listed it. We didn't have time to get rid of stuff. If this happens, it has to happen now. I'm hoping that the person looking wants an acreage, because we are just about the only one available. If they don't, we'll just sell to the company and lose the money. It isn't enough to justify getting rid of lots of stuff or hauling and storing it somewhere (Because there is almost no competition. Someone is either going to want it or not. They are comparing it to an ideal, not a house down the road.) I am currently looking at homes online. I saw a couple of houses that showed very nicely. They look like noone actually lives there, so closets are almost empty, rooms only have a bed and maybe a nightstand or small dresser, etc.... I am half tempted to ask DH if we can just buy a 2nd home and move there while ours shows....I don't know if I can keep ours clean! . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meriwether Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 Vacuum, sweep, make sure your windows are clean and bake cookies. My mom was a professional house cleaner for several years. People assume a house is very clean if there are vacuum lines in the carpet and the windows are clean. It shows that your home is really well cared for. My sisters real estate agent told her to bake cookies on the days she was showing the house (even if they are just slice and bake) because most people associate the smell of cookies baking with good memories. I will have Dd run the vacuum. It doesn't need it as we've only been home a few hours, but it can't hurt for them to see the lines. I can't make cookies. I cleaned the oven today, and I'm afraid it will smell like oven cleaner instead of cookies.:001_huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmrich Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Can you boil something on the stove top - vanilla or cinammony? Turn on every light even in the closets. Go outside and see how bad the bugs are - can you spray backyard off before they come, or light some citronella candles. If your acreage is the draw - show it off. Maybe leave some flashlights in a basket by the backdoor if it is dark outside. Do you have any pictures of your house covered in snow or lit up at Christmas time - put those in a folder by your home info. Take all the pets with you when you leave. Say a prayer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotSoObvious Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Your house sounds exactly like what we are looking for! :) Where is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meriwether Posted July 26, 2012 Author Share Posted July 26, 2012 When we went back a 2nd time it was for one of two reasons.....1. Dh hadn't looked at it yet and it had made it to my "top 5" list, or 2. It was in our final top 3-5 list and we were deciding between the top houses. I am looking at listing our house in a few months (shooting for late Feb.) and plan to store about 1/2 of our stuff in storage OR actually get rid of 50% of our stuff! I now have 3 sets of dishes.....what was I thinking????? I don't know if I will store the nicer set or sell it, but it needs to go! I am a kitchen gadget junkie and my cupboards prove it! I need to PURGE or store. I am currently looking at homes online. I saw a couple of houses that showed very nicely. They look like noone actually lives there, so closets are almost empty, rooms only have a bed and maybe a nightstand or small dresser, etc.... I am half tempted to ask DH if we can just buy a 2nd home and move there while ours shows....I don't know if I can keep ours clean! My first reply to your post sounded kind of argumentative. I really did appreciate your view. As it stands we are going to lose about 15,000 on the house. To make it worth emptying the house we would have to have an offer higher than what the company is willing to pay in the first 90 days. The odds that we'll get an offer that high that won't ask us to replace the 30 year old appliances or the roof on the three stall detached garage are very slim. This one person who is interested is a long shot. We listed the house now just because they kept asking the realtor when it would be on the market. We found out about the appraisal one week, went on vacation the next, and listed the house last week so that this person could look at it. If they don't buy it, it is very likely no one else will look until we move out next month. If the company wouldn't buy the house or we weren't moving out in a few weeks, your advice would be spot on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meriwether Posted July 26, 2012 Author Share Posted July 26, 2012 Your house sounds exactly like what we are looking for! :) Where is it? NW Iowa. The commute might be a bit much. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 No, I didn't find it argumentative at all. We too have a house that is hard to find comps for and they comped our home with homes with lower square footage OR less land. It was very frustrating. Dawn My first reply to your post sounded kind of argumentative. I really did appreciate your view. As it stands we are going to lose about 15,000 on the house. To make it worth emptying the house we would have to have an offer higher than what the company is willing to pay in the first 90 days. The odds that we'll get an offer that high that won't ask us to replace the 30 year old appliances or the roof on the three stall detached garage are very slim. This one person who is interested is a long shot. We listed the house now just because they kept asking the realtor when it would be on the market. We found out about the appraisal one week, went on vacation the next, and listed the house last week so that this person could look at it. If they don't buy it, it is very likely no one else will look until we move out next month. If the company wouldn't buy the house or we weren't moving out in a few weeks, your advice would be spot on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halftime Hope Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 Can you talk with your realtor about fighting the appraisal? If it is based on serious miscaluclations, they should be able to re-appraise. I am selling a house that doesn't have anything in the way of comps. The realtor we spoke with said the appraiser would simply add a $ amount to the sorta-comps that had been sold to comp for the lakefront. So, when I schedule access to the house for the appraiser, I am to ask them to consider Comp A and Comp B which are the best two non-waterfront matches, and then add $ b/c of the lakefront. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meriwether Posted July 26, 2012 Author Share Posted July 26, 2012 Can you talk with your realtor about fighting the appraisal? If it is based on serious miscaluclations, they should be able to re-appraise. I am selling a house that doesn't have anything in the way of comps. The realtor we spoke with said the appraiser would simply add a $ amount to the sorta-comps that had been sold to comp for the lakefront. So, when I schedule access to the house for the appraiser, I am to ask them to consider Comp A and Comp B which are the best two non-waterfront matches, and then add $ b/c of the lakefront. We'd have to fight the relocation company. Two sets of realtors valued our home at slightly more than we paid (5,000). The first appraiser appraised it at 40,000 less than we paid. The second appraiser hemmed and hawwed for 3 weeks (why we are moving a month late) and then told the relocation company that he couldn't give an honest appraisal. The relocation company has to have two appraisals but couldn't even hire someone else to do one for close to a month - keep in mind we are already behind schedule. The relocation company decided to average the appraisal and the figures from the realtors which is why we aren't losing the full 40,000. We've asked for a review of the information but were told it was final. The objective things don't bother me as much. The 2nd level is 4 feet below the front door so it is basement. Fine. The subjective part makes me nuts. All rooms on that level have full daylight windows. The family room has a French door. It doesn't feel like a basement so why not compare it to slightly larger house instead of smaller ones? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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