Are you getting ready to sell your home? If you have lived in the same place for a long time the task may seem even more daunting but take heart it can be comparatively stress free with a few simple steps.
Most of us have boxes of “stuff” that we have put away somewhere to “deal with later.” If this sounds familiar to you, I can relate! In fact, I have a bunch of those boxes myself and a whole lot of “stuff” that really no longer has a place in my life. Because I’m getting ready to sell my own home I thought my experience might be useful to you.
Set aside time each day to work through the stuff you may not even have looked at in years. How much time? That depends on your timeline, and how much time you can make available between work, family, social obligations, etc. When I decided to start this project, I started with an hour a day. As I get closer to my active listing date, I’m spending more time each day.
Keep or toss? Sometimes it is an easy choice, sometimes not. For the more difficult decisions, I think about whether or not this is something I really need to keep. If I don’t actually need it and I haven’t had it on display but I may want to retain the memory, I either scan it (paper) or photograph it (objects) and then set it into the toss pile.
Can’t decide whether or not you really want to keep something? Set it aside and keep moving! It’s easy to get bogged down with indecision. If you still can’t decide later, box it up and put it in the garage. If you still haven’t done anything with it in six months, let it go.
Yard sale, estate sale, or donate? My choice is estate sale. It may seem like I won’t realize as much profit as if I did a yard sale because I have to pay a portion of the sale proceeds to the Estate Sale company.
Think about this: time is money. When I thought about doing a yard sale on my own, having to gather everything together, get it priced and setup, then deal with bunches of strangers in and around my house, I found that thought horrifying. Way more time and effort than I want to put in to it. Not to mention that they do all the advertising and have multiple people on site to assist the buyers. Oh and I also have little idea of how to price “stuff” so I would likely either give it away for too little, or price it too high so that it never sells. So it makes much more sense for me to hire a professional!
That last sentence bears repeating when it comes to many things, including selling your home and why it’s important to hire a professional. Oftentimes, I hear about people that try to sell their home on their own because they believe they can save money by not having to pay a commission. The truth is they almost always end up selling for less than they could have gotten with the help of the right Real Estate Consultant, having it take longer, and enduring way more stress than should be necessary.
Even though I’m deep in the throes of decluttering to get my house on the market, I still have time to talk to you about getting your home sold. If selling your home for the best price and terms possible, in a timeframe that works for you is what you want, and doing it with as little stress as possible when dealing with high levels of complexity, then let’s talk about your next best steps!
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