Almost two years ago, we decided to sell our Southern California home of 13 years when we found out that we will be moving overseas and that there is slim possibility of moving back to Southern California after that move. Our real estate agent warned us that it may take a while to sell our house due to the down housing market. There are houses like ours that have been on the market for almost a year and are still not sold. I told her that I will give it a try and I will ask God to help me find a buyer.
Several weeks before we sign the listing contract, we started to prepare the house for sale. It was quite hectic. Firstly, we had to get rid of all our unnecessary “stuff”. My husband and I have different opinion on how to handle this situation. His style of getting rid of the stuff is to load them in a rented dumpster and let the dumpster’s company to deal with the stuff. I did not want all the stuff to clutter our landfills. I wanted to either sell the stuff on Ebay, Craig’s List or through a garage sale, and donate those that did not get sold. We also did not agree on what is unnecessary. Since we did not have a lot of time to agree on what to get rid of, we took the lame way – we got rid of those that we did not have any emotional attachment or have served their usefulness. These are the furniture including a TV set and sound systems, since we will not be needing them; desk top computers, since we have our own laptops; books that were collecting dust in our book cases, (I found ordering digital books for my Kindle to be more efficient); magazines, old DVD’s and VHS tapes, paper clutter, old clothes, shoes, and other apparel, knick knacks, etc. The stuff that we could not agree on, we boxed and kept in a rented storage room. Yes, I know, this was the period when simple living is still a struggle for me. I’d say that after all the stuff were thrown, given or stored, I felt calmer.
The next step that we took is to “stage” the house for sale. I learned several tips on how to do this by watching HGTV’s “Designed to Sell”. I loved that show because they always remodel a house not only to make it sellable, but also to create comfortable and functional rooms. Following their advise that first impression is important, I designed the front and back lawns that will give a warm welcoming feeling as one comes to the front door and a relaxing feeling while enjoying the spa and the covered patio in the back lawn. To make my ideas on paper come alive, I hired a gardener (cheaper than a landscaper). I also hired a pool guy to clean the outdoor spa and its filters and professional house cleaners to clean the house from top to bottom. I displayed my treasured accessories and fine linens in appropriate places, uncluttered my counter tops and made the fireplace as the focal point of the living room. The house looked so good, I was having second thoughts of selling it.
I did not want a “For Sale” sign on my lawn, but I agreed to have the house listed on Multiple Listing Services (MLS) used by real estate agents to search for house for sale with just a picture of the front view of the house. After “staging” the house, my agent convinced me to add pictures of the “staged” house. To her surprise, even before she was able to upload the pictures, my house was sold. That took less than two weeks on the market. That to me is not surprising. I thank God for being on my side and with the inspiration from “Designed to Sell” , it was a “no brainer”. : )