In January we decided to put our house on the market. After interviewing several realtors we decided to use one from our hometown Libertyville who was highly recommended from our niece and nephew, Jeanette and Danny. They have been using her to flip houses for over a year.
Laura Reilly from Baird & Warner loved our house but wanted us to “update” the look and stage it to sell. She said that the hot color is Reveille Pewter (probably from Joanne and Chip Gaines) so I painted one of the bedrooms and we hated the color choice. Our cream colored carpeting and wood floors just didn’t go. We took a chance and painted the entire first floor in Greenbriar Beige and Beeker Beige. Hated the look at first – we called it “uglifying” our beautiful colorful walls that took years to paint and get just right. Laura recommended a painter who was fast and cheap so we used them to paint the ceilings and volume rooms. I painted the rest including the basement storage area floor.
We also changed some antiquated lighting fixtures and decluttered the house. We brought in a professional stager who wanted us to “rent” some furniture and rugs for the dining room, foyer and family room. We thought it was too expensive so we purchased some rugs at Home Depot and Ariana purchased a dining room set that we could use until we sold. We ended up “renting” cloth dining room chairs and some throw pillows from the staging company.
Timing, timing, timing. We knew we needed to get the house on the market soon after the Super Bowl which would give prospective buyers time to move their family over the summer in time for next years’ school schedule. We actually listed on February 23rd. I thought that it would take close to a year to sell based on two other houses for sale in our neighborhood – one on 300+ days and the other over 200 days. Katrina thought that we would sell quickly. Who was right? KATRINA
Within one week we had a dual offer going at full asking price. Talk about crazy. We finalized the contract at ten days with a closing date of April 27th. Now the fun started.
I think that I’m very sound when it comes to understanding houses and maintaining them. See throughout high school and college I worked on houses: building decks, painting, working on driveways, minor repairs, plumbing, etc. and I have a Master’s in Architecture. The inspector spent 4.5 hours painstakingly reviewing our house and provided a 95 page report – I was blown away. Of the 298 items reviewed, one came back as poor (upstairs furnace), 34 items were fair and the rest were satisfactory. The potential buyers stated that they need $155,000 off their bid to “fix” the house. Things like new windows, new roof, new blinds, a double oven, remodeling one bathroom, etc. Obviously above and beyond the inspection report. We countered them stating that we agreed with their inspection report and would reduce the cost by any item listed as “poor” – $3,750 for a new furnace.
After a week of back and forth with us conceding on some items like getting a professional window company to review the windows and me fixing about 30 items (sticking doors, GFI outlets, dryer vent, other simple things) we settled on a price $24,000 less than our asking price. All in all, still the highest price paid for a house in our neighborhood.
Note to self: open all windows in the spring to make sure that they aren’t “winter stuck” prior to an inspection. Stupid mistake.
Conclusion: Get a good realtor, listen to what they have to say, follow their advice and recommendations to sell your house quickly. After our house sold, the other two in the neighborhood updated their looks and both sold.
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