Our House Or Yours?
I remember a bonus question on a quiz in Mr. D. O'Neil's 5th grade social studies class. The D is important because there was also Mr. M. O'Neil. No relation. The question was, "Where do you live?" I guess you could say that was a foreshadowing moment for me. Most kids answered "a house," but I answered "a home." I remember Mr. D. O'Neil pointing out to the entire class that I gave him the answer he was looking for. I remember how proud I felt that day. Fifth grade was a great year all around. In Mrs. Dansky's homeroom class I also won a timed word search to find all 50 states without a word list. Yay me!
As defined by dictionary.com, a house is a building in which people live; residence for human beings. A home is a house, apartment, or other shelter that is the usual residence of a person, family, or household or the place in which one's domestic affections are centered.
So you have decided to take the plunge and sell. Next, are you emotionally ready to turn your home back into a house? You need to flip that switch in your brain and understand that you are moving your home to where ever you go and these four walls need to turn back into a house. You must make visual and physical space for a new owner to imagine themselves moving in to this house with their stuff and making it their new home.
If you have your "domestic affections" everywhere there isn't room for another's. I consider "domestic affections" to be photos of family, vacations and pets both hanging on the wall and framed on table tops, religious items, collections of things, themed décor, personalized name plaques, things magnetized to the fridge, piles of personal mail, calendars on the wall, your to-do pile in your office, a shrine to your favorite sports team, beverage of choice or hobby, your personal toiletries, bathrobe, used linens and laundry.
A buyer can tell if a seller is not ready to go. They feel like they are invading your personal space and should tip-toe and whisper through your home.
Staging is an important step and really should happen before the real estate agent even gets involved. It typically doesn't happen in that order, but when it does you usually get a higher asking price. If you are blessed with time, give yourself 2-3 months to get ready. If you aren't, flip that switch to go-mode and get ready to work hard and stay up late. Either way, connect with me. What I do works. You will sell your home faster and for more money. Take a moment to read the testimonials at the bottom of the goroombyroom.com home page.
What is home staging?
Home Staging is the process of preparing your home for sale; de-cluttering, cleaning, repairing, updating and maintaining.
Why stage your home?
Staging is proven to sell homes faster and for more money. Make the first impression the best impression!
Why hire go room by room?
I offer an affordable option to home staging and do all that I can to reuse, repurpose and rearrange what you already have in your home. Any purchase recommendations are from traditional retail stores and would be useful and tasteful in your new home.