Tag Archives: Craigslist

HOW GIVE YOUR HOME NEUTRAL COLORS to Get an Offer on Your Home in 48 Hours!

Neutral colors, Selling a Home, , , , ,

If you love bright bold colors, good for you, so do I.  But, that doesn’t mean everyone does and some people have a hard time getting over it and seeing past the bold.   Bright bold colors can really bring a room to life, but often the people buying the home can’t imagine their stuff in the house if they’re looking at colors that are drastically different than their own existing home or apartment.

Painting is inexpensive compared to other updates you can do and can really change the atmosphere of a house.  A light colored room can open it up and make it seem much bigger than it actually is, whereas a dark colored room can give it a closed, dark look.  Try to choose very light tans and off whites.  They will match with almost everything, won’t show smudges as easily and allow potential buyers to view a clean slate.

Do you hate painting?  Try posting on Facebook to see if any of your friends are looking to make some extra money or if they know anyone that does.  Post an ad on Craigslist for a painter or look for painters in your area and let them know your budget.  Don’t be bashful about letting people know exactly what you’re willing to pay.  I’ve found when I’m upfront from the beginning both parties end up happier.  I walk away feeling like I got a deal and just maybe someone was able to pay their electric bill that month!  Also make sure to discuss whether the price will include the supplies (paint, rollers, caulking, drop clothes) or not.  Also make sure you assess what things you can do to help such as remove light switches, shift furniture, wipe down walls or if you want the person you hire to do this.

If you have any outlandish bright items in your home such as a bright throw rugs roll it up and store it until you sell.  You can also try adding a live plant or two to your living room to give everything a more natural feel.  Also, if you have bright or heavily patterned curtains, it might be time to invest in some lightly colored ones.  Consider sheer curtains that can allow the light in to maximize the appearance of space.

In total, our 1800 square foot house was neutralized for under $500.  That included Doug and I painting the easy rooms (bedrooms) and hiring someone to remove wallpaper and paint the bathrooms.  Luckily most curtains were already pretty neutral but you can’t go wrong with cheapies from big box stores or hit up a thrift store or Craigslist and buy used.  Then you can leave them behind when you go!

 

See how clean the walls look after?
See how clean the walls look after?
The floral wallpaper from before we had it redone
The floral wallpaper from before we had it redone
Now if you look, the shelves are gone, the extra chair is gone, and the coffee table. We also removed any of the throw rugs we had to draw attention to the floors.

MINIMIZE, MINIMIZE, MINIMIZE to Get an Offer on Your Home in 48 Hours!

Selling a Home, , , , , ,

This one is hard for most people (we discovered we are indeed hoarders) and may cost a little money in storage units or can make you some money depending on what you want to do.  But minimizing your house will help give people the space to imagine what their belongings will look like in it.

What does minimizing really mean?  Minimizing is defined by Google’s dictionary as: reduce (something, especially something unwanted or unpleasant) to the smallest possible amount or degree.  Well I’m not sure if the things we “reduced” were unwanted or unpleasant, but our house certainly does look empty without them.  Basically, you want your home to look as close to a model home as possible—and model homes do NOT have a lot of personal effects.

So how much has to go?  Well that really depends on your space.  In our living room we had a bookcase, couch, loveseat, chair, coffee table, two end tables, a large TV cabinet and a baby swing and bouncer.  To us, it looked neat and tidy…to the realtors it was too much stuff.  Basically, start to look at your items and ask yourself, “Do I HAVE TO have this right now?”  If the answer is no, then it’s time to start looking into some sort of move or storage.  For us, we split our things between two locations.  Our move will take us from Missouri back to Ohio so we opted to go ahead and move half of our things back to Ohio and put them into a storage facility until we arrived.  Storage facilities are very affordable these days and for a 10 x 20 foot unit we’re paying about $65 a month.  In our minds, this is well worth it in that it enhances our house’s visual appeal and gets our stuff closer to where it needs to be.  So we drove a 17 foot Uhaul from Missouri to Ohio filled with excess furniture, boxes of clothes and holiday decorations and anything else we could fit that we wouldn’t need for the next few months.  The funny thing is, I don’t miss any of it!

Next we arranged our garage to be able to be a secondary storage location for items we needed more regularly but that cluttered the house for showings.  We used the garage for storage of dog crates, large baby items, our hutch and continue to add to the growing mass as we continue to pack.

Basically, by getting rid of all of the excess furniture in the visible part of the house (not closets, cabinets, drawers), it makes the house look bigger and lets people’s imagination run wild!

One other option while you’re minimizing, start to assess whether you really need the item or not.  Garage sales and Craigslist can be an excellent way to rehome some of your items.  That means less stuff to move and more money in your pocket!  We’ve sold MANY items on Craigslist.  The safest way, is to meet the individual at a police station when selling the item.  Other options if this isn’t convenient are other highly trafficked places with security like the Post Office, Government buildings or grocery stores.

Join us tomorrow as we cover “HOW TO GET RID OF CLUTTER!”
Miss HOW TO PICK AN AWESOME REALTOR?  

Check out the first post in this series of 10 MUST DO’S TO Get an Offer on your Home in 48 Hours! 

Though the dog is the focal point of the picture look at all of the furniture in the picture.
Though the dog is the focal point of the picture look at all of the furniture in the picture.
And again here, there's a lot of furniture in the background (of course there's also a talking squirrel!)
And again, there’s a lot of furniture in the background (of course there’s also a talking squirrel!)
Now if you look, the shelves are gone, the extra chair is gone, and the coffee table. We also removed any of the throw rugs we had to draw attention to the floors.
Now if you look, the shelves are gone, the extra chair is gone, and the coffee table. We also removed any of the throw rugs we had to draw attention to the floors.  We also added a new light fixture and removed the one that was hanging.  It made the room so much brighter and more open feeling.

Ten MUST DO’S TO Get an Offer on Your Home in 48 hours!

Baby, Pets, Selling a Home, , , , , , , , , , , ,

The house was listed on Friday night in the MLS, we didn’t allow the first people to go through until the open house on Sunday and by Monday afternoon we had an offer!!  Now, after the offer/counteroffer process we’re entering into the next stage of home selling…THE INSPECTION PHASE.

But how did we do it?  How did a home owner with FOUR dogs, TWO cats and a baby get their home ready for sale so quickly and get that 48 hour offer?  Well we’ll share what worked for us.

Follow us as I explore each point in more detail.

  1. FIND AN AWESOME REALTOR-Realtors these days are a dime a dozen.  Heck, you probably have a friend, neighbor or relative that will list your house for you “cheap”.  And why not, they are family right?  Well think again.  If you’re going to pay money for anyone, you’ll want to pay the very best you can find.  And while that might be Aunt Susie the selling machine, chances are it’s not.  We looked for the best we could find.
  2. MINIMIZE, MINIMIZE, MINIMIZE!-This one is hard for most people (we discovered we are indeed hoarders) and may cost a little money in storage units or can make you some money depending on what you want to do.  But minimizing your house will help give people the space to imagine what their belongings will look like in it.
  3. GET RID OF CLUTTER– That means taking down the knickknacks, picking up the toys and hiding away all of your other home accessories that aren’t a necessity.  This also means that some of your family photos may need to make the move to the moving box for a bit.
  4. De-PET the HOUSE AKA GET RID OF FLUFFY-Okay, so you don’t actually have to get rid of Fluffy, but some people love the discovery of pet hair in a house (OH LOOK HONEY, BY THE COLOR OF THE HAIR THEY MUST HAVE A GOLDEN RETRIEVER!), but most people DON’T.
  5. NEUTRAL COLORS-If you love bright bold colors, good for you, so do I.  But that doesn’t mean everyone does and some people have a hard time getting over it.
  6. INCREASE CURB APPEAL–The first thing people see when they browse through 100’s of houses online is the front of your house.  And what’s the first thing they see when the cruise up with the realtor or are patiently waiting for the realtor to unlock the door?  Curb appeal!
  7. FIX ALL THOSE THINGS YOU’VE BEEN MEANING TO DO-You know what I’m talking about.  Those things you said you were going to do when you move in.  Or maybe that knick you put in the front door when you moved in.
  8. WALLPAPER and OTHER SPECIAL TOUCHES-When was the last time you heard someone say, “Oh my gosh honey THIS HOUSE HAS WALLPAPER…I LOVE IT!”  Ummm…NEVER.
  9. KNOW YOUR HOUSE-You need to be able to look at your house like a buyer and if you can’t, find an honest friend that will serve it to you straight.
  10. CLEAN HOUSE-A clean house is a happy house.  And if you’re like most of America you don’t have time to do the cleaning the way it should be done.

 

BONUS-Join us after we explore the 10 MUST DO’S TO GETTING AN OFFER IN 48 HOURS to explore GETTING YOUR HOUSE READY FOR A SHOWING IN UNDER 2 HOURS

Notice the very minimal items in the shelving. They were packed with books and trinkets.
Notice the very minimal items in the shelving. They were packed with books and trinkets.