How to sell your house and stay sane in the process : Rooftop Views

Rooftop Views

How to sell your house and stay sane in the process

Sheila Anderson of OcalaResidential.com, Inc., licensed real estate broker, offers 10 tips to simplify selling a house in a nervous market. She is applying her experience to answering a question on the minds of many how to be smart about selling your house.

1. Detach emotionally from the property. Take the long view. Prepare for change. Simplify the surroundings. Wake up and pretend you are a guest in someone else's house. Make your bed in the morning. Put the dishes in the dishwasher right away. Distinguish your home from your house. Your home is in your memories and those of the family-a house is the bricks and mortar you are selling. This critical psychological step will make everything that follows easier.

2. Lose the clutter. Root out anything you don't need or use. Do it in steps. It will make moving day that much easier. As for non-priority items you wish to keep, put them in storage.

3. Present the front. Paint if needed. Trim the landscaping. Weed the grass. Plant some flowers. Clean out the side and rear yards. When you like what you see, take pictures.

4. Always be honest - with your buyer, and with the real estate broker. If there is a problem, tell them about it. They will be grateful for your candor and the deal will work more smoothly.

5. Make the house sparkle, especially the kitchen, bathrooms and your windows. Put jewelry, family pictures and personal mementos into storage, or in neatly stacked boxes in a corner of your garage.

6. Disappear when real estate agents show the property. Take a drive, go to a movie, or visit with friends when people are walking through the house. And take your animals with you. (Someone might have an allergy).

7. Get ready to show the house any time. Once it is on the market, it is always a good time to show the house - if you really want to sell it. That accidental visitor could well be your buyer.

8. Prepare a list of items the buyer might want to use - the lawnmower, the grill, the patio and porch furniture, the draperies. Mark them "for the buyer." It's a little touch, but a separate bill of sale can provide tax advantages for the buyer at closing time.

9. Keep your cool. Buyers and sellers both tend to go a little crazy during a sale. Don't get emotional; keep your sense of humor. This is a business transaction and is not personal. Some people will give you a low-ball offer. Don't get offended; give them a counter-offer you consider fair.