Listing your house? Lots of questions

Sorry for the dumb questions but we are new to this as this is our 1st time being the seller

How's this process generally work to pick a listing agent?

Did you call several realtors to evaluate your house?

Did you go with a realtor local to the area?

Any tips?

We are putting our place up in March cause with 2 kids under 2 in a 2 bed we are obviously growing out of this place.

Do i have to empty out closets? Dh wants to make our closets look bare, but i can't live like that on a day to day basis with 2 babies.

Any tips, insight is much appreciated!
Thanks

Re: Listing your house? Lots of questions

Where is the house located?

Try to find a realtor that is connected with MLSLI.

Find someone that is familiar with the area....and has other listings or has sold other listings in your town.

Ask around and maybe someone can recommend a realtor to you. I have an excellent one if the home is around Wantagh, Levittown, Bethpage, hicksville, East Meadow, Seaford, Massapequa, Bellmore, merrick area....or any towns around those....
He is very honest and a really great guy. He sold me my house.

Anyway....I would box up all of your clutter and personal items....especailly in the kitchen and Bathroom.

Do what ever small projects around the house that will make your house look more appealing to the buyer.

Clean everything.....

Curb Appeal is very important also.....

Good Luck
Scott

Re: Listing your house? Lots of questions

we are in CT

My dad used a great realtor to buy his condo in upper hartford county and she does all of CT, but not sure if i want someone more local or should do someone who concentrates on areas.

I used to be a property manager for many years, so i def know curb appeal is def important! But i still have to live here everyday with 2 babies. It's hard.


here's a question-we put up 2 panty cabinets in our kitchen that we def needed for storage space-it took away from it being an eat in kitchen, should i take down the cabinets or is more storage space more of good thing to buyers or an EIK? the kitchen is only 10x10.

Re: Listing your house? Lots of questions

Can you post a picture of the kitchen so we can get a better idea?

Re: Listing your house? Lots of questions

Here's the pantry cabinet we put in ourselves.




heres' 95% of the rest of the kitchen




When we bought this place, the previous owner had a small shelf and 2 person table in the kitchen.

ETA: The pantry cab is directly across from the fridge.

Message edited 2/7/2008 9:34:18 AM.

Re: Listing your house? Lots of questions

I can tell you this much (from going to plenty of open houses and basically house hunting for months now), seeing closets that are full is a turn off to me. We saw a house that had so much stuff in the closets that we thought to ourselves, this house doesn't have enough storage. It's totally possible these people just owned a lot but that's the message it screamed to me as a potential buyer.

As for kitchens, I love lots of storage space. You could always leave the extra cabinet there and tell the agent to inform people it could easily be removed to make it an eat in kitchen. As long as you have another eating space, I don't think buyers will be turned off by that.

I know you said you have kids which will make this hard but try to keep almost all toys out of sight when you are showing the house. Minimize furniture if you have large pieces. And if you have any small projects that are not done yet, finish those.

Good luck!

Re: Listing your house? Lots of questions

Here are some HGTV tips for staging your home. GL! I would here someone that knows your area well and has made lot so sales. Someone that has ideas and seems like a go getter. Interview some REA before deciding on one. GL!

HGTV Link

Re: Listing your house? Lots of questions

Re: Listing your house? Lots of questions

I agree. Leave the cabinet there and tell the agent it can easily be removed.

Clean out your closets and box stuff up that you dont use.

I would also make sure all of your cabinets and closets are neat and clean.

Put the kids toys away.....

Also if you have too much furniture in a room...take some of it out.....Cluttered rooms make it hard for the buyer to imagine their things in the room

Re: Listing your house? Lots of questions

We interviewed a few agents before listing our house. They each came over with comps and current listings in our development. Then they went through our house and gave us suggestions for what they would do. We sat down and they came up with what they thought was a good listing price. The agent we ended up choosing also went the next day to all of the other townhouses in our development that were for sale and gave us feedback on them and see if the price still seemed good. They all went over their marketing plan, their commission, and what they could do for us.

Are you going to be buying another house? We used the same agent for buying and selling and she gave us a break on the commission if we used her for both. See if you can negotiate that. I also found it really helpful to use the same realtor for both because she was able to be on top of both ends of the deal and coordinate everything. It made everything go so much smoother.

We used a local realtor. I just felt they would be better able to market our house.

I wouldn't empty the closets, but I would make them neat and get rid of any excess. Before we listed our townhouse we threw out bags and bags and bags of stuff. We got rid of any clutter, did minor repairs to make sure everything looked as good as possible. I had a 1 year old at the time so I tried to keep the toys contained. Whenever I left the house I made sure everything was spotless. There were a lot of times when I would go out and get a call on my cell phone that an agent wanted to show our house so I liked knowing that it was always ready.

Re: Listing your house? Lots of questions

I am in a townhouse too. My closets are huge here, but they are def full, especially in the girls room, my 2nd wasn't planned, so i def didn't want to do 2 kids in a 2 bedroom for this very reason of clutter.

We are not buying right away. We can't decide 100% for sure yet, if we want to stay in CT or move back to LI to be closer to our family.

here's a thing-i have the girls toybox in front of my gas fireplace, there's no doors on it and i don't want them touching it or with the fake ambers.

Do you think i should buy fireplace doors/screen and get rid of the toybox?

The girls live in my lvg room all day long, so all they're toys are in there.

I guess i have to find some kind of medium of curb appeal and still being able to function here all day long with 2 under 2 years old.
I have to figure that one out..

Re: Listing your house? Lots of questions

here are some more links

HGTV 2

HGTV 3

HGTV 4

HGTV 5

HGTV 6

HGTV 7

Re: Listing your house? Lots of questions

Definitely play up the fireplace if you can. People LOVE them. Maybe you could move the toybox out of the way when you leave the house or have a showing and just put it back when you get home. A pain I'm sure, but I think it would be worth it.

Re: Listing your house? Lots of questions

Re: Listing your house? Lots of questions

thank you everyone! And thank you so much for those HGTV links!!! very much appreciated!

one more question

We have pull down attic access with some things up there, it's 1/2 way full-and that's where our furnace is(no basement)

Do we need to empty that out?

When we looked at this place we didn't see the attic until the final walk through, our inspector saw it during inspection obviously.

Dh thinks people want to see an almost empty attic, i say it's an attic, the access in in our bedroom closet, i say we leave it the way it is. The less $$ i have to spend on paying for storage the better
AM i wrong?

Re: Listing your house? Lots of questions

I think leaving the attic full is fine. We never looked up in the attic when we went to view a home whether it was an open house or a private appointment. We were only concerned where the access panel was in the house.

Re: Listing your house? Lots of questions

when we sold, we used the agent we bought with. We became pretty good friends with her and we knew she would be there for us.

We were in the process of packing up to move OOS, so we had everything very minimal, but we ended up selling the place when it was completely empty.

We are thinking of listing our current house in about 1-2 years and I think we will use one of three big names in our school district (these are our school district experts for Daniel Gale, Prudential and Coldwell Banker - whoever gives us the best deal )

We will also pack up a lot and bring boxes and furniture over to my parents garage to store until the sale is done. You don't have to pack up everything - but definitely things you don't use often - you'll be surprised how much that is.

I think the kitchen cabinet is great - people love more storage! and the attic, I would just make sure it's neat - if it's only 1/2 way full, it's good for people to see what they can store.

good luck

Re: Listing your house? Lots of questions

we just sold our house this summer... we found an agent by just going on the weichert website and filling out a form. 2 minutes later the phone rang, a person asked DH a couple questions, then put him on the phone with an agent in our area. she came over a couple days later to see the house and took notes about the features, etc. there was no obligation. we really clicked with her and a few days she came back with some similar houses in the area and what they have sold for recently, and she had a whole marketing plan- how brochures would look, how the ads would look. and we came up with an initial asking price. we ended up getting REALLY lucky and had an offer and contract in 3 weeks!
when we were selling, it helped that we left every time someone wanted to see the house. we always made it available every time they caled and said " a realtor wants to bring a buyer by". it helps to be really flexible with that- the more showings, the more likely you'll get an offer.
we were lucky that we were buying DH parents house from them, so we emptied out closets of all non essential stuff and boxed it up so that the closests looked bigger. we also did this with any extra nick nacks and stuff around the house- we figured we would have to box it up anyway, might as well do it before people came looking to buy the house.
i also did a deep cleaning before we put it on the market- washed all the windows, shower curtains, curtains, we had white walls in the hallway and i did mr. clean magic eraser so that the paint looked nice a clean and bright.
it was VERY annoyng, but i also cleaned every day for the whole time it was on the market- i made sure it was neat and clean every morning before i left for work. out agent told us later that she thinks this is what helped sell the house so fast- she said it was always immactulate and showed very well....
hope that helps!

Re: Listing your house? Lots of questions

Make sure your house is clean and decluttered. I know how hard it is with kids but at least make sure that when the listing agent/broker comes to photograph the house, that it is it's cleanest and that there is no clutter. even if you have to throw stuff from one room to another.

Those pictures will be the first impression of what you're house looks like, so you want it to be a good one. It'll also make it appear bigger too.

Drive around and take a look at the real estate signs up in your neighborhood. Most sections have their "go to guy" who knows the neighborhood and does well with selling/buying.

call them up and ask them to come and check out your house.

Re: Listing your house? Lots of questions

I know it is hard selling with kids and I was constantly cleaning because I didn't know when someone was going to come by. I went through my closets and through out things I didn't need and plus it was easier to pack up. For the kids toys, I used a 66 gallon sterlite containter and at the end of the night I put everything in their and it was tucked in teh corner and you really couldn't see it. Because we put the house up when DS was 6 weeks old we had a lot of baby gear and I did the best I could with minimizing the clutter but I still needed the baby items. The space saver bags really do work and it amazes me how room you can save.

As far as REA. We had our house on the market for 9 months with one agent who was local and did nothing for us. Then through LIF I was recommend to someone and she and her partner were great! My house was sold within 3.5 weeks of listing with them.

ETA: I made sure I had at least an hours notice before they were coming to straighten up. I also did give them the key but they had to call me before they could use it.

Message edited 2/7/2008 2:31:48 PM.

Re: Listing your house? Lots of questions

thanks everyone I have lots of organzing to do, and here i thought my OCD ways were organized

I have lots to go from and appreciate everyone taking the time to reply!

hopefully it won't be on the market too long in this market