Selling in Fairlington - Advice? (Reston: condo, house, buyers)

[MLJ2006]

My husband and I are moving back home to Oregon this summer and need to sell our condo in Fairlington by the end of June. We have a Realtor and are planning on listing the place in April, for the spring selling season. Any advice out there?

Thanks in advance

[JfromReston]

I copied this list from a previous recommendation:

Get a storage unit - not your laundry room for the extra stuff
De-personalize - take down all familiy photos
Take half the stuff out of all the closets to make them look bigger
Take all the stuff off the kitchen counters
Wash all the windows inside and out
Bake cookies and leave all the lights on when people come to look
Keep the house spotlessly clean
Be realistic with your pricing strategy

[ACWhite]

In addition to JfromReston's points, I'd say:

--Price the house a little below the comparables if you want to sell quickly.

--Watch the (many) house-selling, staging, etc., shows on HGTV and decide which tips would make sense for you.

[HokieFan]

If you have pets, make sure it looks and smells like you don't have pets.

[Carlingtonian]

So taking the above advice, if you do nothing else, remove any photos of your pets!

Haha--no, great advice from JfromReston. If you do all of those things and don't put some crazy price on it, you should do OK.

[MLJ2006]

Thanks for the advice everyone! My number one concern is that we have 395 in our backyard. Once the trees bloom you can hardly see it, and the noise dies down quite a bit...but right now, during the time we are going to list, it's an eyesore. The house next door to us is identical and it's been on the market for two months with NO offers. I'm very worried...

[HokieFan]

Originally Posted by MLJ2006

The house next door to us is identical and it's been on the market for two months with NO offers. I'm very worried...

Price it aggressively.

[hilsmom]

Originally Posted by MLJ2006

Thanks for the advice everyone! My number one concern is that we have 395 in our backyard. Once the trees bloom you can hardly see it, and the noise dies down quite a bit...but right now, during the time we are going to list, it's an eyesore. The house next door to us is identical and it's been on the market for two months with NO offers. I'm very worried...

In April, flowers should be out. And have you been inside the one next to you? There might be a reason it isn't selling. Follow the advice above, and you should be fine. Is it fairly well updated? I think that was what sold our house for us - almost everything in the place had been replaced in the 8 years we had been there. New kitchen, new bathrooms - and honestly, they were not ridiculously pricey fixes, either. We definitely decluttered and staged before putting the place on the market, but our TH sold in 3 days last July.

[Carlingtonian]

I agree that price is paramount. If your house sits for 2 weeks with no offers, that means it's way, way overpriced. If it was just a little high, people would put in offers a bit lower than the asking. No offers in 2-3 weeks means it's an unrealistic asking price. You want to lower it so that potential buyers know you're not delusionally insisting on a high listing price. I firmly believe that once a place is on the market for six weeks or so, it starts to get the "stink of the loser" about it; people get used to seeing it in the RE listing sites and wonder what's wrong with it.

And yes, clear out anything that makes the place look smaller or like a relic of the '80s, '70s, '60s, etc.

[jillabean]

All the selling advice is great! I have also heard of companies that will "stage" your place for selling. It might be something to consider as well.