Home Sellers (or renter) what did you do to sell your home (Atlanta: for sale by owner, real estate market)

[Lemur2004]

I love my home in Fayetteville, but I can't stand the commute anymore so I've decided to sell. I know that even in this terrible sellers' market, some forum readers must have successfully sold homes. If you have, what was your strategy (staging, selecting a particular season, renting first, etc).

If you've chosen to wait out the market and rent, how did you choose renters? Did you use Craiglist or some comparable website or advertising method? How did you weed out serious prospects from the creeps?

[Memphiz]

prayed

[Lemur2004]

Lol. I suppose that's a good place to begin!

[lastminutemom]

there are two schools of thought out there--

one is that is ok to sell your house right now, because you might not make as much as say a year ago, but you might spend less as well.

the other thought, is that it is a huge financial mistake to move right now.

We were at a party this past weekend and were sitting with people we didn't know and one was a real estate accountant for one of the big (use to be 8, not sure what it is now) and he mentioned to someone else that it could be 2010 before the real estate market starts to improve.

If you are wanting to move to say Buckhead, I am not sure that prices are dropping as much as they have say in Fayetteville.

My understanding is that price is everything now-- that buyers are really looking for a value. So how you price is it is the most important thing.

As to renting... one of the challenges facing homeowners looking to rent is that if people are price sensitive they are almost always going to go into an apartment because the rents are less.

[saharaga]

We are in the process of preparing our home in Covington for sale. We are planning to have it ready to list the beginning of October. Our strategy so far has been to prepare the house as best as we can to make it more competitive with the newer homes in the area and to be cautiously optimistic. We've spoken to 3 agents about listing our home and they all indicate that the only problem we should have is the market. There's not much we can do about that. We do have a bottom line price so if we can't sell the house for at least that, we are prepared to wait and rent the house in the meantime.

Are you planning to do a For Sale by Owner? Your questions lead me to that conclusion. If you are, I would not recommend that...especially with the market the way it is. We sold our first home as a FSBO 5 years ago when the market was much better and even then, it was a challenge. Imagine how much more difficult that would be now. An agent will be able to answer those questions for you and will handle prospective buyers so you won't have to deal with that. I would talk to a few of your local agents. They come out and give you a free comparative market analysis to give you an idea of the selling price you can expect and we encountered no pressure from them to list our home right away. They're also a good way to get a reality check. Homeowners are not the most objective when it comes to their homes.

[Zel Ya]

Originally Posted by Lemur2004

I love my home in Fayetteville, but I can't stand the commute anymore so I've decided to sell. I know that even in this terrible sellers' market, some forum readers must have successfully sold homes. If you have, what was your strategy (staging, selecting a particular season, renting first, etc).

If you've chosen to wait out the market and rent, how did you choose renters? Did you use Craiglist or some comparable website or advertising method? How did you weed out serious prospects from the creeps?

I think Saturday's AJC had a big article about staging. Several firms were mentioned with a good track record. One woman was profiled, so you might check that article.

I would guess your commute will eventually improve. Many sectors of our economy are obviously near a collapse and a meltdown. I've never seen anything like this. Big companies are falling like dominos.

Thousands of folks are losing their jobs, so your commute is going to get better. If you don't have a job, you're not going to be commuting.

[RainyRainyDay]

Originally Posted by Zel Ya

I would guess your commute will eventually improve. Many sectors of our economy are obviously near a collapse and a meltdown. I've never seen anything like this. Big companies are falling like dominos.

Thousands of folks are losing their jobs, so your commute is going to get better. If you don't have a job, you're not going to be commuting.

Zel, if I recall correctly, Lemur is a college professor. So your prediction of a change in commute is probably a bit off the mark, in this case.

[RoslynHolcomb]

I sold a house back in May, not here in Atlanta, but in Huntsville AL. My best recommendation are to clean and/or paint everything in sight. In my case, my home was 60+ years old. I wanted them to see an adorable dollhouse, not start worrying about ancient plumbing and electrical. I painted all the trim in the house, painted the kitchen, living room, one bathroom and a bedroom we used as a study. Cleared out all the clutter. We rented a storage unit and put everything we didn't use daily in it. We wanted the house to look as open and bright as possible. Landscaping was crucial in our case. Our lot was a big feature, so we put down tons of fresh mulch and pine straw.

Our house really needed painting, but we didn't have the bucks to do it. So I painted the awning and the shutters to freshen it up, touched up paint wherever it needed it, scrubbed the storm windows and power washed the gutters. When I was done the house looked as though it had been painted. I also patched cracks in the concrete porch and sidewalk.

Get rid of any pets. We have a cat. She doesn't use a litter box as she's an indoor/outdoor cat. We kept her at a relative's for the duration so that no one would ever think about pet odors. We had the carpets shampooed twice just to be sure.

My house listed on Wednesday. Two people saw it on Thursday. The second person made an offer on Friday.

More on animals: When I was looking for homes over here, I wouldn't even look at the ones where the owner indicated there was a dog present. I only had one day to look at houses and had to bring my young son with me. I was terrified that he would get bitten, or would somehow hurt someone's animal. Just better all around to avoid those houses. Along those same lines, watch the tchotkes. I was in some houses that were so exquisitely laid out I spent the whole time watching my son and feeling anxious. Not the mindset you want your buyer in. Obviously, my situation was unusual, but you never know you might have someone similar.

[Zel Ya]

Originally Posted by RainyRainyDay

Zel, if I recall correctly, Lemur is a college professor. So your prediction of a change in commute is probably a bit off the mark, in this case.

I don't understand the connection between being a professor and commute time.

"YOU" is not a reference to Lemur.

[spacelord75]

Price it less than anyone in your neighborhood and surrounding comparable neighborhoods. That is basically all people care about, right now especially. I had a house on the market for 12 months....superior location in the development, staged very well, kept it perfectly clean, and it was only 2 years old, and it never sold until the foreclosures sitting beneath me, price wise, sold and then I went for the vugular and under-cut my nearest competition by $15k. It sold in about 4 weeks after that.