House for Sale - Ravenna,OH

I think you should at least paint and, depending on the conditions of your flooring, look into new carpet or whatever other flooring you have in the home. Also, make sure the appliances are in good shape. It is my understanding that bathrooms and kitchens sell a house so spend your time/money there.

As for the actual buying process, just make sure you have all of your ducks in a row. The process is MUCH harder now than it used to be and lenders are scrutinizing everything with a fine tooth comb. Make sure your credit rating is high and that your income to debt ratio is low.

Good luck!

You first find a good reputable real estate person. You pack all the stuff you don't need on a daily basis. Clean the house really good. Unless your house is painted in really "out there" colors I would not do painting and our redecorating. Remove all personal touches. Put toys away and get rid of the clutter.

The real estate market has picked up in a lot of parts of the country. Drive around your neighborhood and see what realtor's have house's listed and call them and ask about the real estate market in your neighborhood. Interview several real estate people before you select one to list your house with. they all want to "list your property" - you want someone who will aggressively try to sell it for you. Ask for a recommendation from friend that have successfully sold their homes.
There are several things you need to be doing -- thinking about where you would like to move to and how much money you would need to qualify. How does your credit look? you can get free credit reports (once a year) from the major credit reporting companies. You also need to critically look at your house--what would buyers think? Make repairs, clean thoroughly and get rid of junk. Pack away extra things so that your house looks more open. Most realtors will help you go room to room and make suggestions. Good luck! It is a lot of work but think how happy you will be when you are settled in your new home. A long hard process --depends on your market- some houses sell very quickly and others may be on the market for awhile.

An offer of advice-

start the decluttering and winnowing of your stuff now.
1. it will improve your life not to have clutter.
2. it will make your house more saleable.
3. it will make upkeep and maintenance easier.
4. it will make moving easier.
5. it will make unpacking easier.

you might make some money or get some tax credit on whatever you sell/ donate.

we moved our wardrobes wholecloth, without so much as looking at what we had on the hangars. When unpacking the boxes, though we culled. That was a bit silly, we had to pay extra for the moving service, only to move stuff that we knew had been unworn unwanted when we unpacked at the new place.

good luck to you and yours,
F. B.

A realtor would be able to answer all these questions. I've sold a house. I talked to a realtor recommended by a friend and decided to sell thru her company. She helped me with all the issues you've mentioned and then some.

You can talk with a realtor without hiring them. They will still answer your questions. I've also done that and decided to not sell my house.

I'd perhaps talk to several before choosing which one to go with.

You need to hire a good realtor. Find one who has a high success rate in your neighborhood and set up a meeting.

As for prepping your house, clear out as much clutter as you possibly can. Get rid of all of the knick knacks and little things on the shelves. Take down most of the personal family photos, though it is ok to leave other framed artwork on the walls. If you have a lot of furniture, try to put some of the pieces in storage (or a basement, or a friend's house) so the rooms feel bigger and look more spacious. Put a lot of the toys away, too.

The less personal stuff you have around, the more the potential buyers can imagine themselves in the house. And the less clutter you have, the bigger and cleaner it will seem.

If the carpets are exceptionally dirty, consider getting them cleaned. Even though the buyers will likely replace them, they will still feel better about the house if it looks cleaner.

Listen to the realtor's advice with regards to pricing. They know the market and will price it right.

We listed our house about 6 months ago and had stagers come in and consult us on what to do. They key strategies they gave us were as follows:

1) Remove all personal items (family pics, nic nacks, etc.)
2) Simplify art, pictures etc on walls.
3) Clean out all cabinets, closets so that they are at least 1/3 empty (this way they look spacious, bigger)
4) Remove all unnecessary furniture.

Generally speaking, you want your house to be as empty and free from clutter as possible so rooms look bigger and people can visualize their belongings in the space.

The bad news is that it is a lot of work! We had to rent a storage unit.
The good news is this is the perfect time of the year for a garage sale and, the market is really picking up - in favor of the seller. So your timing is good.

Hope this helped! Good luck!

You need to have a Realtor come in and do a walk through. They'll tell you how much the house might sell for, what needs to be updated, what colors they think you should paint it, etc....

You can take their advice and do it exactly like they say or you can choose to tweak it a little bit. I often hate painting a house the current trend/popular color inside. It is often a really ugly color and I'd rather just use an off white and do it once.

Another friend was told they needed to put in new wall to wall carpet and they'd spend about $5000 but it would increase the value of the home about $20,000. They went by the Realtor's choice and it was ugly too.

My sister painted every wall a neutral off white color, put up new border in the hallways and bathrooms, painted the trim a slightly contrasting but blendy color, she spent hundreds of dollars over several months, and when they had a Realtor come to look at contracting to sell their home she told them all the things they'd have to fix before she'd take it. They needed to paint the entire house a creamy light brownish beige color, take down all the border because that's old fashioned since no one likes borders anymore, and that they'd need to take down all the trim and replace it with real wood.

They told this lady they had just spent hundreds of dollars on fixing the very things she said they'd have to change. The Realtor took the house but it didn't sell for months and months. If my sister had done what she told her to do and waited until hearing what needed to be done then she'd have saved all the money and perhaps sold her house much sooner.

I have that ugly light brown tan color that is so popular right now. I wouldn't buy a house that was painted that color.

First get an agent. Have him/her come through your house to suggest changes and updates needed. You might also want to pay for a house inspection so that you'll know what problems your house has which may be things you have to fix or effect the price of the house.

My daughter bought a house last year and we looked at a ton of houses. The best tip I can give you is to declutter and remove any big pieces of furnature from the rooms. One house was really big but had so much stuff in it you couldn't walk into half the rooms. Another put things on the kitchen counter to make it look inviting but with a candy bowl, a plate of cookies, muffins in a tin, a brewed pot of coffee, 4 mugs, sugar, creamers, and spoons all out on the counters it was very apparent that there really wasn't that much counter space in the kitchen.