Ok, so today our house looks like this. So – spontaneous decision! – while we get settled and find our underwear, this week is going to be moving week! Turns out you guys still wanted to hear a whole lot about the sale of our current house. So let’s do the dang thing. Here’s what we plan to cover in honor of Spontaneous Moving Week:
- How we staged/sold our house (including a glance at our real estate flyer, a list of what we changed before showings, etc)
- What we made when we sold our house vs. what we put in- budget breakdown included!
- Empty house pics (dude, it’s trippy to see your house all echoey and vacant, but it’s pretty awesome closure too)
- Moving day photos of our new house (we love having this Day One post from our last house to look back on)
- A house hunting post about a few other homes we casually checked out (sort of like these that we did last time)
- Other stuff that I’m forgetting right now because our house looks like this:
So onto the first bullet! We got a lot of questions like this:
“Did you stage your current home to sell it? I’d be interested to hear if you’ve made any small changes/put things in storage in order to make it seem less personal to potential buyers.”
“Would you be willing to share your For Sale flyer (obviously without any too-personal details like price and address)?
So here’s the little double sided flier we made in Photoshop (minus the address, price, and our contact info). Just click the image below to see it larger.
And here’s the back (again, just click it to see it bigger).
Turns out we’re not really staging rule followers in the traditional “neutralize and de-personalize” sense. The whole repaint-rooms-so-they’re-all-neutral-and-remove-all-personal-photos-from-the-wall approach isn’t really something we subscribe to since we sold our first house by owner without doing that, and it seemed to work out for us again this time around.
So when we were showing our house to potential buyers our frame hallway was still very much intact. We think it’s helpful to show off how cozy and personal a home can be. Chances are that it could “speak” to a prospective buyer more than a stark and stripped down house might anyway.
But that doesn’t mean we didn’t do anything at all before a showing. Instead of taking things away, we mostly focused on making things look their best. Here’s our list:
- We over-seeded the lawn a few weeks prior and let the rain do its thing to help the grass look fresh and green.
- We mulched the garden beds and planted a few annuals (it definitely ups curb appeal and sends a “this house is cared for” vibe)
- We organized closets, the attic, the basement (basically any nook people could peek into should look functional and not stuffed-to-the-gills)
- We wiped down counters in the kitchen and bathrooms and quickly polished the faucets with some Mrs. Meyers so they looked and smelled clean
- We rolled up the rug in the cooking part of the kitchen and stashed it at the new house, just to show off the cork flooring a bit more
- We mowed the grass and used a leaf blower on the driveway, patio, and deck to clear off any errant pollen/twigs/leaves/acorns
- We touched up any paint that was scuffed in doorways, baseboards, etc
- We also tucked Burger’s food and water away since it’s stored in our walk-in closet and we realized that might be weird for non-dog-folks who were trying to feel at home.
- We removed Clara’s bath toys along with her potty seat and sink stool from the hall bathroom so people without kids didn’t just see it as a “kids bathroom” (we left her other toys in baskets in the living room, nursery, and playroom since those seemed easy enough to see past)
- We removed the bath mats in every bathroom to make them seem more spacious and show off the tile (matted stepped-on-with-shoes bath mats aren’t always that pretty, which tends to happen during showings).
- We vacuumed, dusted, and generally cleaned things up (this included following Clara around for the last half-hour before the showing and singing the clean up song about a million times while we dumped stuff into bins and baskets)
- I took a damp rag with a bit of mild soap (Mrs Meyers) and scrubbed the front door, which was still glossy and yellow, but had a haze of pollen. It really made a difference and only took five minutes!
- We left the separate entry basement door unlocked during showings so people could easily check out that space without trekking down there and then finding themselves locked out
- We put a little note on the microwave cabinet in the kitchen and said “there’s a vented microwave in here!” so people knew where to look
- We tossed a runner on the table on the deck along with a few cups (even though the furniture came with us, adding some color and that sit-right-down vibe couldn’t hurt)
Most of those items just had to be done once before the first showing, and then keeping them up for the following ones wasn’t too bad. Sure, getting a toddler and a dog out of the house on time before each one was a little hectic, but we feel really lucky to have only had three showings this time around (we had 14 last time!). What do you guys do when your house is on the market? Any other tips for folks who are about to list?
Natalie says
Buzz, your girlfriend…woof!
haha love the Home Alone reference!
Can’t wait to see what you do to your new home – it has such great bones, I know it’s going to look amazing!! :)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, best line in that movie!
xo
s
jennifer p says
i know that this is your job,the blog and remodeling,but how do you not get completely overwhelmed with what you have to do.my apt got flooded in 2008 and putting it back together was hard and overwhelming.i would say a few parts were fun like shopping for new stuff.there are a few things that still need doing,i have to get motivated to finish it.i know its not the same situation, but how do you stay motivated.by the way,i love your blog and congrats on the new house,i cant wait to read about it.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh Jennifer, I’m so sorry! Sounds like such a pain! I think we both just love fixing up a house. I know it sounds crazy, but we did it for fun and started this blog just as a hobby (so sort of like how others love to bake or crochet, we love to paint and demo and watch something become something else in front of our own eyes). Granted we don’t love every step of the way (painting ceilings is torture!) but to keep our momentum up we just try to skip around when it comes to projects. We do whatever sounds fun and that seems to keep us going more than forcing ourselves to complete one room at a time in some rigid order. Just breaking things down into smaller projects and bouncing around seems to keep it lighter and more fun. Hope it helps!
xo
s
Lindsay says
Can you pleeeeaseee tell me where you got your master bedroom rug? I LOVE IT! Love your blog! :) I made your DIY no sew curtains, and I love them! So much better than store bought! Keep the ideas coming!
YoungHouseLove says
That was from a local outlet here in Richmond called The Decorating Outlet but I’ve seen it on jossandmain.com and it says Rizzy Rugs on the tag. Hope it helps!
xo
s
Kathryn says
I am pretty excited about your new house! Isn’t that crazy? I’m in Texas for crying out loud and have never met you! But I’ll be checking this blog to see all the things you do to your house. We bought a 1971 house last fall and are still trying to find our “vision” for this house. Have fun!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Kathryn! You’re so sweet! All the best with everything!
xo
s
Heather says
I’m really excited for the posts your mentioned, especially the ones on homes you looked at but ultimately passed on. I loved those last time!
I cannot wait to learn from your experience from this move! It makes me feel hopeful that we might be able to sell our house this time (when the renters’ lease is up). That and the fact that all of the comps aren’t short sales and foreclosures this time.
mribaro says
I KNEW you would update the House Tour link the very day you moved in! :) Kudos to you. Please, can you also include the link to the house’s floorplan in the first chapter, as you did for the previous two houses.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, thanks for the reminder!
xo
s
Megan says
Ever since you made your big announcement, I have had house fever SO bad. I’m literally driving myself crazy looking at floor plans, picking paint colors, imagining new spaces. Then I come back to reality. So, then I drive myself crazy figuring out how to paint my vinyl siding, fix up our garage apartment, etc. etc. Then I come back to reality again and realize we have no money for that either. AHH! I need to quit. Shew. I’m tired just thinking about it.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha! I like to move all the pillows and accessories in the house when I get an itch like that. Just take all the decorative things and put them on one big table and put them out in different combos along with pulling some pillow switches. Sounds weird but the details can make a surprising difference!
xo
s
Susan says
We closed 3 houses in 3 years and are not ‘flippers’! Which translates to selling two, building one and looking at a ton of pre-existing before deciding to go new. Learned a lot and got some opinions in the process but the thing that stands out is the ‘freshly baked cookies’ deal. We had a house on market for 3 months, during the worst of recession. I’d cleaned myself into a torn rotator cuff while making sure Mrs. Meyers was doing her aromatherapy thing. THEN, one night after dinner (involving OMG curry!) we get a ‘look at it now’ call–had 20 minutes to prep. Cleared dirty dishes but left the freshly baked brownies out on counter: Had a contract same day! My husband’s mantra for house selling is “remove objections”–apparently, chocolate has magical powers.
YoungHouseLove says
That’s awesome!
xo
s
Lee says
So amazed at how much you guys got done so quickly!
I’ve been working on 2 houses for 1 year and 10 mos trying to get a house ready to move into and get our current home ready to sell.
I love your old home and looking forward to seeing the projects on the new one.
heyruthie says
I just keep looking at all that wallpaper, and it makes me think of my house when I moved in 3 years ago–TONS of wallpaper, which I have now removed. Yay! You may already know this, but I discovered a wonderful “tool” on my 3rd room: a $10 2-gallon garden sprayer from Home Depot. A “pro” showed me how to mix up whatever solution I was using to remove the paper (solution of your choice) and then use the garden pump sprayer to apply it. It was SOOOO much better than using a spray/squirt bottle. The spray wand on the garden sprayer easily let you reach much higher, and you didn’t get trigger finger. Plus, it let you dilute the solution down a little extra (if you could) so you use even less chemicals/product. Also, on really tough spots, he showed me how to use a wet rag and an iron in place of a steamer. You put the wet rag on the tough spot, and then just “iron” it. The paper peels right off. It really worked! Those two “tools” made a huge difference on the 3 remaining rooms of wallpaper :-) But the garden sprayer was the best part.
YoungHouseLove says
Love that tip!!
xo
s
Renee says
Hi there! I am excited to see your transition into your new home! You always have the most beautiful ideas :)
I just moved into my first house this past weekend, and I am going to use a lot of your ideas in my new home. The layout of my house reminds me a bit of your now “old” house, where the front door opens to a random room with built in book shelves. So I am definitely going to make it a dinning room, and maybe even paint the book shelves that gorgeous blue you used. I have a lot of work ahead of me so I better go start scraping the paint off the windows so I can finally get them opened LOL.
Marta says
What is the clean up song? I’m curious.
I’m sure you’ll have a beautiful/personalized and cozy home in no time. And I’ll be watching the progress.
Kudos my friends.
YoungHouseLove says
It goes “clean up clean up everybody everywhere, clean up clean up everybody do your share.” On repeat. Haha!
xo,
s
Melissa says
We moved to a new house this weekend as well and our place looks way crazier than yours! I think it’s cool to watch you guys settle into a new place as we do the same.
I also love the idea of a FAQ type of post – it drives me nuts as a reader to see commenters ask the exact same question over and over, and I’m only skimming the first page of comments! This kind of post seems like a great way for you to avoid having to repeat yourself in the comments and share the answers with everyone. :)
Lyndsey says
Congrats on the new house. Can’t wait to watch the transformation!!
I have a quick question…..
I remember you got your bedroom rug at a thrift store or very discounted and had a rip… And I can’t find your original post on it but can you tell me what the brand is. Every time I see it I think I HAVE TO HAVE THAT RUG!! Haha I just love it!!
YoungHouseLove says
It was from Shades of Light. I didn’t see it on their website just now, but you could always try calling them to see if they’ve got it in stock somewhere else.
-John
Lily says
the house is just like a fairly land!I learnt a lot from you 1thank you
ashlee says
I am going to absol-freakin-lutely going to LOVE watching this house transform. I mean, the outside is drop dead gorgeous. but the inside? that leaves a fair bit to the imagination, haha. you guys are going to do so AWESOME. I seriously cannot WAIT.
Sophie says
That’s hilarious, I live in the UK and the next town to us is called Chippenham. I never knew there was another one across the pond!
Although, our Chippenham hasn’t got a lot going for it. It’s claim to fame is that Eddie Cochraine died here.
YoungHouseLove says
So funny! I think there’s a Richmond in England somewhere too! We were named after that one.
xo
s
Kristi says
I am so excited about your new house! My husband and I are going to be moving next year and are already looking at what we can do to fix up the house to get it to sell quickly. I’ve loved reading through all of the staging tips! Can’t wait for you guys to post moving tips and to see your new house come together. When we bought our current house, my husband made me promise I wouldn’t want to move out of it in a year- once a year, around springtime, I get the “moving itch,” because I moved every year for 6 years prior to buying our house. The moving process stinks but I absolutely love being able to start fresh in a new place- if I could choose another career it’d definitely be interior decorator. Love your style and your blog. :)
Bailey says
Excellent tips – you guys think of everything!!
xox
Bailey
http://akabailey.blogspot.com
Absad says
I noticed in your flyer you had listed “2012 furnace contract” I’m planning to try to sell my house by owner this fall and was curious if that contract was in your purchase/sale agreement. I live in Maine and up here you have to sign-up for pre-buy/budget plans in June. We decided to renew our plan rather than risk not selling and having to pay full price for oil, but is there a way to put this into legalese- rather than negotiate with buyer pre/or post sale?
YoungHouseLove says
I would just put it in your flyer and the contract so they know its a perk that you can transfer to them (call to be sure they let you do that of course, but I think most places are happy to).
xo,
s
Summer says
Just have to share… and laugh… I was reading through all these comments the other night trying to learn more tips on selling our house. After seeing the suggestion a few times, I decided to bake some cookies the next morning right before a showing. Wouldn’t you know, we got an offer! haha (I commented awhile ago about having trouble selling because of our wood foundation… but not expecting you to remember) Just thought that was funny! It was the only change (besides some extra prayers that morning!) to what we had done for all our other showings :)
YoungHouseLove says
I totally remember your comment about the wood foundation and I LOVE that the cookie tip worked! Wahoo!
xo,
s
Lora @ Craftivity Designs says
We will be selling soon and are prepping our house for sale by fixing maintenance items, de-cluttering, etc. As we are completing rooms I’m taking photos for a flier. We are going to try FSBO first and I’m using your flier as my template :)
I’m curious, where did you get the disclaimer at the bottom right corner on the front page? Also for Taxes, did you include the district and rate? Thanks!
– Lora @ Craftivity Designs
YoungHouseLove says
That was just from looking at other real estate flyers in our area. Not sure how things go in Texas so I’d look at a few open house flyers to see what they put in there.
xo
s
Lora @ Craftivity Designs says
lol, “taxes”, not “texas”. I was curious what info you put in that section. I’ve seen the tax rate listed before on flyers, so was wondering if that was the info you put there.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh it’s just the amount of annual taxes we paid (we blurred it out for the future owners privacy as well as the lot info since that reveals the house’s location).
xo,
s
Lora @ Craftivity Designs says
Thanks so much!
LifeInYellow says
These tips were so helpful when we recently listed our home for sale…thank you! There are so many things to be learned in the process. I did our own blog post on it here: http://www.lifeinyellow.com/2014/04/how-we-sold-our-house-ourselves/