Selling a house while kids are still living in it

[Squawky Acres]

Storygirl -- that sounds terrible!  I can't believe that your agent would be so particular about something like fingerprints.  Actually, I don't tend to "see" fingerprints at our house, but my husband is constantly lamenting them and trying to wipe them off the walls and appliances.  Maybe it is a vision thing on my end, or maybe it is a conscious choice to preserve my sanity.

 

I am taking away from all of this that in a slow market, and with a home on the higher end of the price range, we need to have things fairly perfect and be very flexible about showings to get the maximum number of buyers through our doors. Our agent suggested requiring 24 hours notice, but I'm thinking we need to be a lot more flexible than that.  That means we absolutely have to be out of the house before it shows.

 

So, I'm off to do our decluttering and pre-packing, and hope we find something we like soon.

 

 

 

 

[OneStepAtATime]

Good luck and best wishes.

[gardenmom5]

For the reduced stress levels for you I would suggest moving out because you can but I do have to tell the story of the first and only house we have ever sold.

 

Our kids were 6, 9 and 12.  We rented a storage unit and took any "stored items" out of the house.  I cleaned like a maniac everyday and we left anytime someone came over, sometimes literally sitting in the car on the next street over.  We had a lot of showings but no bites.

 

In November my entire extended family came for Thanksgiving.  My Grandmother, my parents my 4 siblings, two sibling spouses and 2 cousins.  They were all sleeping in my house. We had sleeping bags and suitcases everywhere. The floor of every available room was covered.  One afternoon we were all watching a movie with the curtains drawn so the family room is dark, three little ones were napping in various rooms and there is a knock on the door.  I answer to see an agent at the door. She mentions that her clients want to see the house.  I say "great, when?" she replies, right now, they are in the car.  I assure her that this is not a good time, we have 15 people in the house.  She insists, so I let them in.  No one even stopped the movie, they wandered right through peering into every messy room.  They left and my agent called 30 minutes later with an offer on the house.  

 

I dot know that I will be that gutsy the next time I sell but it is a funny story.

 

 

new marketing tactic - you sold happy family thanksgiving gathering. 

[Amy in NH]

Keep all food and drink at table only. Wipe hands and faces before they leave the table.

 

Keep all writing implements locked away and check them out only to kids who are at table, returning them before leaving the table.

 

That should fix the smudges and smears you wrote about.

[Splash]

We sold our last house when the kids were 2,4,5, and 8.  We purged ruthlessly, cleaned from top to bottom, repainted walls 4ft and below, boxed up excess stuff, fixed, decorated, etc.  The house looked beautiful.  My goal was to make it look like a model house and for it sell asap.  We had six offers first weekend and so I only had to keep it to that level for about a week.  It took us about 3 months of hard work to prepare for putting house on the market.

 

Good luck.   

[Rachel]

I think I posted this on the other thread but I'll say it again. I kept an empty laundry basket to throw all the odds and ends in for a last minute showing. We did keep the house pretty picked up but with kids there is always something out. I could get the kids and dog out of the house with 30 minutes notice. It was easier throwing everything in the laundry basket and taking it with me than trying to quickly put it away.