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Wow, it was tough coming up with a title for this one. Here's our quandary.
We have a really nice house (doesn't everybody think that?). It is full of all sorts of junk and clutter that we have accumulated over the past 20 years. And "we" (ahem...) are master accumulaters. We also have some "items" that are very difficult to sell but make the house hard to show (an 8' boa constrictor in large, museum-type cage, for example).
We need to get our house sold by July if possible, we are moving to Hawaii (so all the junk definitely needs to go, and we can't just move it to our new home - we have to sort it, toss a lot, sell a bunch, etc.)
The housing market here is not bad, and if we could just do a "bewitched" and have our house empty immediately, stage it, etc., I believe it would sell quickly. But we can't. We need to get a dumpster or two, and do some MAJOR cleaning out, and we can't do that until the weather gets a little warmer. It's VERY cold here until probably mid-April, at least. The spring house-selling season, on the other hand, is gearing up now. I am wanting to sell it myself (FSBO), at a low price, so as to allow the buyers to re-do the kitchen (very functional, but needs cosmetic work badly) as they want it, if possible.
So, what to do? Wait until we can clean it out? Or try to sell it as is? I listed it on Craigs List yesterday and have already gotten several inquiries. There are a lot of things going for this property - it has land, would be good for horse owners; the house is very sturdily-built; it could be made into a two-unit easily; it has hardwood floors and tile in the baths. BUT, several of the extra bedrooms, and the garage, are full of junk that needs to be sorted and disposed of.
Any advice?
(PLEASE don't tell me to hire an agent; I have talked to a very good agent, and will hire him IF I can't sell it myself. But I want to try that first.)
I used to be a pack rat like you, but it drove me crazy!
Let me ask you a stupid question. Why do you have to sell your house by a certain time frame if you knew you have all this work to do and the climate is not conducive to getting it done now?
You could look into a PODS unit or some local storage space to get things going immediately...
You said to don't tell you to hire an agent, but you asked for advice and I'm going to go against your wishes and tell you to hire the agent now if you want to have the opportunity to sell your home by July. Unless you are in a booming market, you will have a very tough time getting it sold by then.
You are in a tough situation. By trying to sell your home on your own you will be wasting some valuable time because the chances of your selling it on your own quickly is less than having an agent sell it.
You will be having to deal with the clutter plus dealing with the selling part of it and you will get bogged down.
Your agent will provide you with guidance on how to deal with the situation.
And as far as the 8 foot Boa. I would not show your home no matter what kind of cage it had. I really have to be blunt, but I'm not going into a home, and I'm not taking a client into a home that has an 8 foot Boa. They can get another agent to take that responsibility, but not me.
So I would advise you to find a temporary home for the Boa.
If you leave the Boa there, then make sure you disclose it on the mls sheet or to anyone who is planning on seeing the home.
If you were just planning to sell our home on our own, and didn't want an agent, then I would not suggest hiring an agent, because if people know what they're doing in selling a home, I don't have any problem with that.
Sweetbeat get ready for the firing squad. I hope your feelings don't get hurt easily. People on here can be harsh.
I would get a storage unit and start going through one room at a time. It makes it easier when you look at the work in pieces instead of one big picture. Maybe you could get one of those pod thingies and put it in your drive way and start moving things that way. Once you clean a room, paint it? I'm not sure if you need to paint.
Why can't you get a dumpster and clean it out now? If you have to, shovel the driveway, put on a coat, and get to it!
I went through this with my parents last year - they're hoarders and had 30 years worth of crap piled in every room of the house. At least you seem eager to dump stuff - they wanted to hold on to so much, or insist on finding "a good home" for the billion items they had, which wasn't realistic in a short time frame.
The fact is, if your house is cluttered and doesn't show well, you're not going to get as much as you can. If you're going to Hawaii, then you have no choice but to get rid of most of the stuff, so it seems like the obvious answer is to start purging ASAP.
CouponJack, it drives me crazy too... let's just say *I'M* not the pack rat, but one of us is... ;-)
We would really like to sell it before we move 6,000 miles away. We couldn't decide whether to move or not until I found out whether I could get a job on Kauai, you can't look too far in advance, so we went out at the end of February and I got a great offer, to start 8/1. Now we have to move in July.
I couldn't convince DH to begin cleaning/clearing until I had a job and we were sure we could move. Now we have to clean out so we can pack and move. Of course, I can't afford to quit my job here before the end of June, and he's relatively useless - he wants to keep everything. And the weather - ugh! It has been suggested that we should get a 1/2 dumpster and clear the garage (the two classic VW beetles, that hubby was going to restore, are already generating lots of interest on Craig's list, getting rid of them will get us some space to move), then use that as a staging area for packing, sorting, etc.
I was just wondering if anyone has ever sold a house in this kind of shape, and/or if listing it on CraigsList NOW may actually be harmful (i.e., people will look at it and not be able to see its good qualities, and not come back when it's cleaned out), or "can't hurt".
Thanks everyone for the motivation. Getting a "PODS" thing is not a bad idea. I hesitate to get the dumpster too soon because they're rather expensive to keep for a long time. I think if we can get rid of the beetles we can start piling stuff in the garage, then when we have enough get the dumpster for just a day and fill it.
Also, a lot of our stuff isn't really dumpster material. There are lots of things that we will either give away or, yes, attempt to sell (flame me! but I'm already working on the treadmill, air hockey table, cars...). Valuable antiques. Books. The snake. etc.
I got a dumpster, just for the weekend, and was surprised at how fast it filled up. I am getting my house ready to sell and needed to declutter, just like you. Sit your hubby down (or send him out for the day) and be realistic about what cannot be sold. Honestly, nobody wants my old curtain rod. My mother said "but it has so much use left in it!" True. And also true that nobody is going to buy it. Goodwill doesn't even want it. I threw it in the dumpster. Take another item...okay, somebody might buy it...but it could take a long time and it's only worth a few bucks...throw it in the dumpster!
If you have things to give away, get them out NOW. Take them to charity this weekend and let the charity figure out who needs it.
Sell the snake ASAP. Take less than you think it's worth. Be happy that it's going to a good home.
I would get a dumpster asap and just start the process regardless of the weather. I also know that the cold weather isn't the best time for this, but I would start planning for some type of yard sale and just try to unload as much as you can for whatever people are willing to give you for it.
Getting interest on craigslist and getting pre-approved buyers to make an offer are very different things. Today's buyer (if they even know your home is available) will probably not even see all that you have to offer - or they'll offer you 50-75% of your asking price, and you'll still have to empty the house out before closing.
I don't know the Ithaca market, but as many others have said, you don't have time to waste.
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