Hubby and I have seriously been talking lately about moving. Seriously.
Like so seriously we’re packing boxes of junk to store in the attic and purchasing paint to spruce this house up to put it on the market.
That serious.
While I love moving, and the whole “starting over” feeling, I do NOT love selling houses and the packing/cleaning part of it all. If I could skip that part, I’d be overjoyed, but seeing as how we only have one tree in our yard, and it’s not a money tree, selling the house is a necessary part of the equation.
Hubby attended a class Saturday to learn tips for selling a home – and to be honest, I read through his notes (yes, he took notes – Yay Hubby!) thinking to myself, Are these people serious? The things the realtor teaching the class mentioned were absurd to me, though I’m sure there is well-documented research SOMEWHERE backing this stuff up. There were tips such as:
- Remember the rule of 3 – no more than 3 of something on a shelf or table (i.e. don’t put big heaping piles of junk on your shelf – if you have candles, only put 3 in the grouping).
- Limit amount of personal stuff on display.
- Don’t use “scatter rugs” – looks like you’re hiding something
And then there’s my personal “favorite” – Don’t have a lot of books on your bookshelf. What?! It’s a bookshelf. Apparently, home buyers don’t want to buy a house from people who read. People who read obviously have problems. They probably have insects or rodents. They probably didn’t water their grass or change their furnace filters because (gasp) they were… reading books.
Puh-lease.
When I vented about this moronic “no book” rule, Hubby said to me, “Why send me to the class if you were gonna pooh-pooh everything they said?” Truthfully, I don’t know. And there probably is something to that rule and I will dutifully pack up all my (gazillion) books if that gets our house sold, but I’ll complain about it the whole time.
Though the prospect of moving is exciting, it’s scary at the same time, but I long to have more room and more space for my books (wink!), as well as the masses of stuff that you accumulate when you have children. I’m looking forward to a home with a playroom or a large family room to store the two dollhouses The Princess got for her birthday (as well as her three new Barbies, and Barbie’s Summer and Fall wardrobes).
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I was surprised how little “stuff” there was when we came for the viewing of our now home. The realtor said that they like clients to remove all family photographs, and to have minimal “stuff” out because both detract from prospective buyers looking at the house itself. I guess in a sense, it might bias some people if they see who owns the house…maybe some people are racist/prejudiced, which should have nothing to do with the house, but you know how people can be.
I can understand the minimalist point of view. The more cluttered a place/room/bookshelf is, the more it detracts from the overall scheme of the house. Less is more since you’re not buying the home furnished as you see it when you come for a showing.
And we met the owner on our second visit, and he gave us his phone number in case we wanted to come back anytime between when we signed the purchase contract and the house closing (3 months). We brought my parents for a look and it was funny to see all the family photos out again, like they were the black sheep of the family who had to be hidden in the closet! 😉
All those rules are saying NO CLUTTER. When we were getting ready to sell our house, we had to rent a storage unit to put our “clutter” (books, pictures, toys, knick-knacks, anything we liked). Best wishes with your sprucing up and selling.