Preparing Yourself to Move - Cutting the Emotional Ties to Your Home

The period after we put our homes up for sale can be an emotional and stressful time for everyone in the family.  Sometimes it’s a positive choice we make to gain more space or to move closer to work or family.  Other times, life events happen that compel us to move.  Either way, we may have strong feelings about leaving a home that we’ve put so much of our blood, sweat and tears into fixing up and personalizing for our families.  The emotions may be even stronger if major life events are tied to the home, like the birth of a child.  Granted, it may not be easy, but the fact of the matter is…you’ll be much better off cutting the emotional ties to your home now, rather than when the moving van is pulling out of your driveway.  Changing the way you view your home, as well as the way you live in it, will make the process go more smoothly, and it will actually mean more money in your pocket at closing time.

Getting Everyone Involved

Have you heard the expression “move your feet and your head will get there?”  Getting everyone involved in preparing your home to sell and transitioning to your new home will help to cut the emotional ties that bind.  Pack up items that won’t be needed before you move.  Keep your eye on the goal, and focus on and talk about the positive aspects of moving on to your new home.

Your Home as a Product

Once the For Sale sign goes up in the front yard, your home becomes a product.  Other homes on the market in your neighborhood are products too, all competing for the same potential home buyers.  What will make buyers choose to buy your home over another?  It’s all in the packaging - the way your home is priced, marketed and presented will give your home the edge over its competitors.  Your real estate agent is the expert on pricing and marketing your home; the way it is presented is ultimately up to you. 

Listen to the Experts

Since you first bought your home, chances are you’ve spent considerable time, effort and money on fixing it up to suit your family’s needs and tastes.  Now your real estate agent, and possibly a home staging expert, has advised you to paint over the deep, rich colors you so painstakingly selected, to take down the beautiful custom draperies made for your living room, and to pack away your collection of antique teacups.  It’s important to remember that these experts are not criticizing your personal taste or design choices; they know what buyers are looking for, and they know how to make your home its most marketable.  Your real estate agent and home staging specialist truly have your best interests at heart, and they share your goal - to sell your home as quickly as possible for the highest price possible.  Listen to their advice, and don’t take it personally.  Make the transition in your mind and tell yourself, “this home will be some lucky buyer’s new home, and I will move on to find the next home of my dreams.”  Follow the advice of the experts on your team, and you will get there!

Going the Extra Mile

So you’ve implemented all the changes your real estate experts have recommended.  Your home, looking better than it ever has, is ready to show.  Pat yourself on the back for adding additional value to the sale price of your home.  But don’t count your dollars yet!   From this point on, you and your home must be at the ready, potentially on short notice, for a visit from a potential buyer.  This feat may take more work for some of us than others.  Let’s face it…we aren’t all neatnicks like Felix from the Odd Couple.  You will probably have to make adjustments in the way you live in your home while it’s on the market.  That means going the extra mile to ensure your home is in pristine condition every day.  No hair in the sink or trash in the wastebasket, no pill bottles on the nightstand or bottles of beauty jams and jellies on the bathroom counter.  No toys on the floor, piles of mail on the foyer table, dishes in the sink, cat hair on the chairs or bowl of dog food on the kitchen floor.  Make a hit list of trouble spots or issues in your home, then enlist everyone’s support to help keep up with them.  Allow extra time to leave your house in show condition on a daily basis.  Sound like a tall order?  It is, but it will pay you dividends in the end.

Making an Exit

Your real estate agent calls on Saturday morning and says there is an interested buyer who would like to see your home.  Everyone is at home, the spouse, the kids, and the dog.  What do you do?  Swing everyone into action!  If you made a plan or hit list in advance, it will come in handy now when you’re short on time.  When your home is ready to show….GO!  Take everyone, including the pets with you and make an exit.  It won’t always be convenient to leave when your agent wants to bring in a potential buyer, but it is important that you do.  You’ve gone to great lengths to neutralize and depersonalize your home so a buyer can visualize how he and his belongings would live there.  So don’t leave yourself (or your family) in the picture!  The goal is to make a potential buyer feel comfortable touring your home, opening closets to check storage space, evaluating the condition of appliances, and generally poking around to get the overall feel of your home.  You want potential buyers to make themselves right at home - to sit down on your sofa, put their feet up and stay awhile.  In fact, the longer a potential buyer stays in your home, the greater the potential that he will make an emotional connection with, and subsequently an offer for, your home.

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