I Can’t Remember

(for more on downsizing, see my post Live large in a small house)

The secret to successfully downsizing your home is to have a plan. Downsizing is the newest trend in homeownership: some older couples no longer need their children’s bedrooms, others just want their home to feel cozier, some people downsize their home in an effort to simplify their lives, and others do so for economic reasons. (see my post Simplify Your Home!) Whatever the reason for downsizing, homeowners reap all the benefits of small home, including lower utility bills, lower mortgages, and less time, effort, and money spent on upkeep. The hardest part about downsizing is deciding what to keep. Planning ahead ensure that you will have everything you need, will keep what is important, and that everything you keep fits in your new home.

STEP ONE: THE NEW HOME

When you see your new downsized home, take the opportunity to measure everything. Make note of window heights and door widths. Note views through windows and natural traffic patterns. Make a map of the floor plan. Take pictures of features, windows, doorway, and natural focal points. Get color swatches if available.
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Technorati Tags: downsize, home stag, moving, new home, real estate, retire

(I promised a post on this last week, so here it is.)

Please see the rest of my series on Home Staging.

Have you ever been in a “kid’s room” in a model home. It has a theme. It’s color-coordinated. It’s clean and uncluttered.

Now look at your kids’ rooms. Wow, what a reality check!

Selling your home is not about reality. It’s about selling a dream, not a building. I got to see some of the comments from realtors showing my house. One comment struck me: “the home looked dated.” My house was built less than 10 years ago! But the furniture inside the house is mostly older than that. The house isn’t dated, but potential buyers aren’t actually looking at your house, they’re mostly looking at your stuff. It seems crazy. Like if you went to a store to buy a box—just the box—and then bought the box that had the best stuff in it. And then went home with the empty box. But that’s what people do!

So now look at your child’s room. Is it a room that someone with kids would want their kid to move right into? Is it a “Oooh, so cute!” room? Probably not. Primarily because a real live child actually lives in it! But your house isn’t supposed to be lived in…it’s supposed to sell.

The trick with children’s rooms is to make them look good, but still usable. Because, let’s face it, unless Junior’s going into the storage unit (or Grandma’s) until you sell your home, it has to be liveable!
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So, my home has been on the market for 8 days, has had 5 showings, and one offer.
Not bad, considering the usual time right now in the area is 30-50 days on market.
Thus, the benefit of Home Staging is illustrated.

Guess what impressed our Seller’s Agent most about our house?
The uncluttered closets and kids’ rooms!

(Next week, I promise to write a post on how I decluttered the kids’ rooms!)

The only negative comment we got from a Buyer’s Agent so far has been: “pet odor.” Aaaak!
This is totally my fault. After the carpets were professionally cleaned, guess what I did? I put the smelly 10 year old doggie bed back in my bedroom! I don’t smell it anymore!

Dog has a new bed, and regular baths scheduled. I’ve added a couple home scents in strategic places just in case (which I hate, but makes some people think the house is clean.)

Speaking of cleaning, I have a schedule:
Bathrooms 3x a week
Kithchen 3x a week (deep clean)
Dust 2x a week
and either Mop or Vacuum every day (alternating: half my house is tiled.)

Everything gets picked up before anyone leaves the room. Because, really, you never know when a Buyer might schedule a showing!

And of course, no meal prep can last more than 30 minutes, just in case. (Oh, darn!)

My husband (who has never in his whole life been neat) just told me that he could “become addicted to all this decluttering.”
Apparently, he is now irritated by the disorganization inside his desk drawers and has started to organize them—in such a way that it hasn’t made a mess anywhere else.
I have found that it is easier to live in a decluttered home. It’s easier to find things, and to put things away. Even the kids are putting everything up.

If you are selling your home like we are, don’t worry about having to live in a neat/clean/decluttered home while your house is on the market: trust me, it’s great! Think of how pleasant staying in a hotel is. It’s very soothing to have only a few things to keep track of. And you still have your “stuff”: what do you think your furniture and your good china and the kids’ favorite toys are? And it still feels like “home”: your family and everything you really need is there.

So go ahead, declutter and stage all your rooms and put all that stuff into storage.
But beware, you may never want it all back!

Normally, on Mondays I offer up home staging advice.

I’m putting my house on the market this week however, so I’m too busy staging my own home (and getting the carpet patched!) to write about it.

So, I offer you this instead:
Selling your house? The one time you should definitely declutter
from the UnClutterer.

Actually, don’t. Replace it, that is.

Demolition and reinstallation cost waay too much $$$$. Not to mention the cost to the environment!

First–try cleaning it. Ecover’s Ecological Limescale Remover is amazing! It takes off soap scum, hardwater stains, and rust stains. You spray, you wipe, they’re gone. (Actually it’s a bit scary!) It doesn’t work so well om mildew stains, but a vinegar or oxygen bleach cleaner should do a good job.

Hate the color? Get a professional service to paint over the tiles. (You could do it yourself, but since the tiles will get wet, a professional job might be required.)

If it’s still structurally sound, and you still think it’s hideous, you can reline it with a new acryllic shell. Luxury Bath Systems makes liners that fit any tub/shower combo you can have. The installation cost less, and there isn’t anything to go in the landfill–nothing is demolished!

So don’t demolish when you update. It’ll save money and the environment!

The house next door was empty for a couple months before it was sold. It’s a pretty house, and though a bit overgrown, the yard had some beautiful roses in it. The young couple who bought it asked the Realtor to “clean up the yard” before they bought the house.

A ‘mow and blow’ crew was hired, and boy did they ‘clean it up.’ They left lawn, trees, mulch, and an evergreen hedge (trimmed into a perfect rectangle of course.) Everything else was yanked, shredded, and bagged. My neighbor across the street and I were sick: if we had been home, we would’ve claimed the roses before they were chopped into little pieces. It wasn’t as if they weren’t recognizable as roses: they were blooming and Hybrid Teas!

When the young couple arrived at their new home, they stood on the curb, utterly shocked.

The new trend in real estate is to try to make the house look “new.” New carpet, fine. New kitchen, expensive but sometimes worth it. All new landscaping? Hmm…too young trees, tiny shrubs and large expanses of mulch are OK for a new home…but only because it’s expensive to do better.

The best thing about an older home is it’s mature landscape. Yes, you should trim and mulch. But please do NOT ruin the landscaping by removing trees (!), limbing up trees (especially pines) so that they look like paintbrushes, yanking out mature perennials, and any other effort to make it look “new.”

If the front of the house needs anything new, make it a new coat of paint.

Also see the rest of my articles on Home Staging.

Technorati Tags: curb appeal, Home Staging, landscap