Question about realtors/selling a house

[teachermom2834]

My dh is interviewing for a job out of town so looks like we are possibly relocating. It is only a little over an hour away and we have family in the area so we will stay here for the school year and let my oldest ds graduate high school and take our time making the move and deciding where we want to live etc. Dh can mix teleworking/commuting/crashing with family while we work on making the move. 

Our house needs a lot of work which we have started the process of doing for ourselves. But now we need to do work with the mind to do just what makes sense to sell and not what we want in our permanent home. We are also trying to figure out what we can potentially get from our house while looking for homes we can afford in the new area. 
 

The last time we relocated we had to use the realtors connected with the relocation company. I would like to have a couple realtors come out and consult about our home and potential listing price and what work we really need to do. But I won’t be hiring these realtors because I’ll be stuck with what the relocation company uses. So I feel dishonest taking up their time bringing them out here. 
 

Any suggestions? I have an acquaintance who is a realtor who I could ask but I would want to pay her something and not mislead her into thinking she has a potential listing. 
 

Every sale/purchase we have ever done we have done in a rush and I desperately want to avoid that this time and take our time both on selling and buying and make sure to make the best choices and not just rush. We have only been in this house five years but homes in our neighborhood seem to have appreciated by about 30% in that time so the market is different than even five years ago and I would just want some advice even if I pay some kind of consult fee.

I am sure people bring realtors out all the time even without an intent to hire them and I know that is likely part of the business but I just don’t like taking up their time when I know I’m not going to hire them. 

 

[matrips]

When we sold our last time, we called realtors and made it clear we were interviewing realtors to select one.  They came over, tried to sell themselves, toured the house, and gave ballpark figures and what they thought, and how they would market it.  We could right away who was a good fit for us and who wasn’t.  We picked the realtor who believed in our house and was enthusiastic about selling it versus the realtors who seemed very negative about it and ready to settle for less.

note- our home sold with days well above asking price.  We would have lost a lot with the other realtors.

[happi duck]

Maybe: when we relocate next year I know we'll be stuck using the relocation company's realtor.  Can you tell me your fee to come out and consult on how I can best prepare my house? 

Or can you contact the relocation realtor now?

[teachermom2834]

8 minutes ago, happi duck said:

Maybe: when we relocate next year I know we'll be stuck using the relocation company's realtor.  Can you tell me your fee to come out and consult on how I can best prepare my house? 

Or can you contact the relocation realtor now?

Yes I’m sure I should just wait until I have all the info in hand and then work from the relocation company realtor list. I just get anxious and impatient. Haha. I process stress by gathering information and I’m pretty sure that is what I am doing fretting about this now.

[Wildcat]

Having just sold a house after planning about a year in advance, I can tell you what I did.

Any repairs that needed doing, we did.

I took everything off the walls, filled the holes, and repainted everything neutral (not the greige stuff, just a light neutral). All trim received a good cleaning and a repaint where necessary. Even the interior doors.

Carpets were cleaned every couple of weeks. I have my own cleaner. Best purchase ever. I am on my second cleaner and discovered the shampooer is more effective than the steamer for heavy traffic areas, so if you buy one, go for the shampooer. I have the Hoover model, ordered from Amazon.

Outside, I cleaned and repainted as much of the trim as I could. I re-stained the front door. Worked on landscaping. Painted the mailbox and put on new number stickers. We pressure washed all concrete. Restained the fence. Dramatically cut back the hedges in the early fall so that when we were a few months out from listing in the spring, they were at a good height and just required minimal trims. I had zero weeds in the mulch beds. We cleaned out the gutters. Trimmed any dead branches from the trees.

I cleaned so much the house would have passed a white glove inspection. Inside and out.

About three months before we were planning to list the house, I called a realtor. I pretty much knew who we were going with so I only called the one. However, I had done my own research, following house sales in my area, so I knew abut the price my house would list for. The realtor was shocked at the condition of the house and said she could list it that day, it was so ready. So, I just kept up with the cleaning schedule, did any paint touch ups (because life happens) and then listed the house when we were ready. The feedback we got from home shoppers was that they loved how well the house was looked after and that it was move-in ready, even if they wanted to paint in their own colors.  I made it so there was literally nothing for a buyer to do but move in.

I'm not sure calling a realtor now when you are looking at listing about a year from now will tell you anything about pricing and there is so much you can do on your own to get it ready to list. That said, this is part of their jobs and the way they drum up business, so if your situation isn't so cut and dry for prepping to list, don't feel guilt in calling one or two to come out and get their opinions.

[Wildcat]

31 minutes ago, teachermom2834 said:

Yes I’m sure I should just wait until I have all the info in hand and then work from the relocation company realtor list. I just get anxious and impatient. Haha. I process stress by gathering information and I’m pretty sure that is what I am doing fretting about this now.

I'm the same way with how i process stress. I channeled mine into all of the cleaning and prepping. It was a most excellent outlet and it felt so good!