Monday, September 1, 2014

Laboring on Labor Day

Happy Labor Day!  It certainly is LABORIOUS around these parts.  We have spent the weekend packing, decluttering, and non-stop talking about the move. 

Saturday, I spent 3 hrs volunteering with Bossy for popcorn sales with Scouts, and they are all so sad to see Bossy go....they have been great with him.  They even offered that the money in his "scout account" can be transferred to a new troop so he doesn't lose it.  Very sweet.  And we ran over to the scoutmaster's house to pick up all the empty boxes from the popcorn sales.

The kids and I have gone through their stuff and purged alot (both trash and donate).  We moved a few small pieces of furniture out of Sassy's room (which is small to start with).  Bossy did a TERRIFIC job going through his stuff.  While there is a very small amount of "junk" (think teacher treasure box kind of stuff), it is all contained into one small basket.  His anxiety level was getting pretty high so we stopped, but I am thrilled with the progress he and I made (we said Goodbye stuff!  See  you at the new house!!! and the seemed to help).

The kitchen, 3 bedrooms, and living room are  decluttered and just need a final scrubbing.  Today's task is the office and the bathrooms.

G-man powerwashed the house yesterday....and the front porch.  Oh front porch.....the paint was peeling already.  He has started to sand it down and we decided to use the powerwasher to speed it along.  OH MY.  The MESS it made!  There are paint chips all in the front flower beds, down the stairs, stuck on the walls of the porch.  Not sure how much work we really saved.

G-man is working until 3pm today, so he will touch up spots on the house with the washer, and work on the deck. 

We have been touch up painting, fixing minor issues, and driving ourselves crazy.  We have some larger expense items to deal with this week:  new doors for Bossy's closet ($114), a broken window, ($288)  and the handle on the microwave ($80.....for just the handle!!). 


Additionally, G-man and I are disagreeing about "curb appeal."  We have some larger areas that I want to lay down a THIN layer of mulch to beautify it....he thinks it is a waste of time and money and that "the leaves are going to start dropping soon and cover it anyway."  I say that it will look WAY better in pictures, and that people will see the front of the house and say "oh that is nice" but they will see the other areas and say "oh, they just did the front and didn't care about the rest."

So the plan of the week is to continue to pack up, make several runs to Goodwill, and CLEAN.  I am still concerned about the basement and attic....even though the realtor said that it is fine.  I am concentrating on the main living areas, but want to at least tidy up as much as I can down there.  And try and get rid of the pile of stuff that needs to go to the dump.

We are shooting to have the house on the market by Monday.  It is ambitious, we know.  The timeline we are trying for is to have the house sold by early October, househunting at Columbus Day weekend, and move the week before Thanksgiving.  EEEEEKKKK!

I have read a ton on organizing a move....any down and dirty tips from those of you who have done it???

16 comments:

  1. All I have ever heard is to depersonalize the house a bit by removing family photos. Not sure if they preach that still. Sounds like you are doing all the right things. Enjoy the process :)

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    1. Yep....to a degree. You don't want the house to look completely devoid of family/home feeling. But you can't have every photo out. Right now we still have our family wall up....mostly because we are deciding what to do about the room that it is in. Technically it is the "dining room" of the house, but we use it as an office (and formerly a kid play room). If we turn it back into a dining room....which most people aren't looking for (we have an eat-in kitchen)....then it has to come down. If we leave it as a sitting room/office...then at least a few of the pictures will stay up, but we may have to paint that wall to cover the nail holes.

      Sadly, we actually don't have much on the walls in general. I said maybe we have to up SOMETHING up so it doesn't look bare!

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    2. I love cozy homes. Most staged homes are too sterile. Things that would turn me off would be smells and obvious structural problems. Family photos are fine by me.

      I would leave it as an office if dining rooms are not as valued.

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  2. We marked all boxes clearly with the room name. Also make sure to have a box marked cleaning supplies that has rags and anything else you might need as well as one marked sheets and pillows. First one makes it easy since I can't remember ever moving in a house that was clean enough. Second one is a lifesaver that first night when you just want to make beds and sleep, you don't need to remember where the sheets are. I de-cluttered a lot and stacked marked boxes in our garage. We also had a garage sale the weekend before we put houses up for sale and ate from the pantry once we knew we were moving so we had less to move.

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    1. I totally agree about cleaning...I already plan on cleaning before our stuff arrives.

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  3. Check habitat for humanity store for closet doors. We bought ours upstairs closet for $10.00 we had to sand a little and paint, but $10! I am so excited for you.

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    1. We have a store 10 min away....thanks for the idea.

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  4. Instead of Goodwill, check if you have Dry Hootch in your area. It helps returning veterans. Everything stays local and they pick up from your home.

    The

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  5. Pack a box with essentials (kettle, coffee, sugar, cups, cutlery, plates, food for dinner that first night, toilet paper, etc). Take it with you - not the movers! Label each box with a number and room that you want it to go to. Keep a master list with the box numbers and contents so it's easy to find what you need.

    I also found moving with kids that packing a backpack for them (with a change of clothes, snacks and activities) to take in the car helps to keep them occupied and more pleasant to be around - less stress for you!

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    1. We have a 15 hr drive...The kids have already started requesting stuff for their car bag. Lol

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  6. First, congrats on your upcoming move!

    We just sold our house six months ago. Be prepared for having pick up and get out at a moment's notice so that the house can be shown - that was the most difficult part of the selling. Be sure when you ask about getting feedback that it be constructive. "Don't like the backyard" doesn't tell you anything; "we're looking for a larger backyard" is a more helpful answer for why someone didn't make an offer on your house (and less hurtful too).

    I have to agree with completely taking down or drastically cutting back on family photos. Buyers want to imagine themselves living in the house; it's hard to do with personal items sitting out or hanging on the walls. Less is more when it comes to staging your house as well. The fewer items out the larger the rooms will seem and buyers can imagine where their things will go. Make sure your kitchen counters are empty, or nearly empty, and that everything is spotlessly clean. Viewers will go through your cabinets, and yes even your dresser drawers (unfortunate, but true). Are you able to turn your dining room back into one? One realtor told us "people don't care about those any more." It turned out they did - when we converted one room back into a dining room we got an offer right away - and we had an eat-in kitchen as well.

    The most important thing we learned was to have the realtor price your house appropriately. The first realtor we hired w-a-y overpriced our house for the condition it was in; we had showings and eventually got an offer at that price but the buyer made all sorts of expensive demands. We would have ended up losing a LOT of money making all sorts of repairs for the buyers, while the realtor would have collected her big commission - we finally figured out that was her game and why she insisted we accept the offer. With our second realtor the house was appropriately priced for the area and condition of the house; we got a full-price offer and no requests for repairs from the buyer - we ended up making more money in the end. And, disclose, disclose, disclose EVERYTHING. Our first realtor kept telling us repairs "weren't important." Turned out they were.

    Be sure your realtor brings in a professional photographer to do the house photos - it makes a LOT of difference. And curb appeal is very important - don't dismiss it. Also, your realtor should share everything, and I mean everything, with you BEFORE they do it. Our first realtor's write up for the house was abominable and we had to ask her to re-do it. Actually, looking back, all her write-ups were awful - it was a wonder anyone even came to look at the house. Our second realtor's write up made us wonder if we should be selling the place because it was so great. She had the house sold before it was even officially on the market. Ask your realtor how he/she will market the house. Our first realtor did very little - the online sites and Craigslist. Our second agent sent out flyers pre-listing to fellow realtors and colleages as well as listing on all the online sites. It was a colleague across town who brought the buyer.

    OK, probably more than you wanted to know. Good luck!

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    1. Thanks for the great advice!

      Our dining room can be a dining room...sort of. We can move the table in there...but it will look like a table in a room. There is a dresser in there but we are getting rid of it. Plus...The color doesn't even match...it was put in there out of need. But we have a desk top computer that will be homeless if that room becomes a dining room. We know it is temporary. ..we hope. But it will be very hard without the computer.

      Our realtor has a full marketing plan. We are not looking forward to having to leave for the showings! But oh well.

      Any tips on finding a realtor for our new house?

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    2. The first realtor we chose was a "friend." Big mistake - her marketing was out of date and her selling style turned out to be a poor fit for us.

      Second time around we interviewed four agents - three from the same company. All four had terrific websites up about themselves, their experience, what they had to offer us, etc. We figured that if they were good at marketing themselves they would be just as good at marketing our house (It was shocking how many agents did NOT have their own website, especially since most agencies provide them free of charge to their agents). We also looked at agents' listings, past and present and how they did things, how they wrote, etc. We had a list of 20 questions for them (you can find these lists online, and just add things you would like to know). All four of the agents we interviewed were excellent - we could have gone with any one of them, but chose the agent we felt the best personal rapport with during the interview. All four of the agents provided professional photography, agent's open house with catered food (which brings other agents in), and other perks that they paid for out of their commission. Commission percentage for all four was 5% - 5.5%.

      BTW, even if you just have a table for your dining room, your agent should be able to come up with some chairs for it. Our agent provided bar stools for our kitchen counter. And I don't think having the desk and computer in the same room will be a problem - just make sure it isn't the focal point of the room and that the only thing on the desk is the computer! Any clutter whatsoever is NOT your friend when you are showing your house.

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    3. Great advice, Laura. I have to agree 100% with NOT hiring a realtor who is a friend. We made that mistake and learned fast why she never won realtor of the year :) BRUTAL!!!!

      Mysti, I don't think you could go wrong following all of Laura's advice.

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  7. SOOOOO HAPPY FOR YOU GUYS!!!!!!! CONGRATS! Hoping your house sells quickly and you get a little bit of money back. Looking forward to updates about the move and I and I can't wait for you to quit your job and find something better!

    HS

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