In a place like Rancho Cucamonga, where the streets are flooded with beautiful
homes and condos, selling real estate can be a very emotional time. It's hard
to think about your home without thinking about all of the good memories, like
bringing your first baby home to the nursery you painted yourself, family picnics
in the backyard, cozy evenings playing cards in the paneled den, and the night
you brought the aquarium, goldfish, and fish tank filter home for your daughter
with the flu. It gets even harder to see your home the way a potential buyer
might. If you're ready to move on, but not quite ready to leave everything
behind, it may help to take a step back. Whether you are a high powered Toronto
executive recruiting firm agent or a burly Rancho Cucamonga fisherman, selling
you home without emotion can be tough but is necessary in order to move on.
One of the first things you can do is go across the street and look at the
house and critique it. By looking at the home through a buyer's eyes,
you can begin to start thinking about the home sale for what it is: a business
deal in which you need to fetch the best price possible. If your home is outdated
and doesn't look good to anybody but you, it's time to let go. The
same goes for the inside. You may love the antique hot water heater that your
great grandfather installed over fifty years ago. But, in this case, you need
to think like a seller and replace it with a tankless water heater
And when it's time to list the house, take down those pictures of family.
It's clutter and will help you think of it as a house rather than a home.
In fact, packing away family photos can be an important step in taking the emotion
out of the selling process. They have to be packed before the move anyway, and
when you can't see them every day you might start to see the other half
of the equation: You're moving to a new place where you'll create
new memories.
Then take the next step by removing other things potential buyers will see
as clutter, up to and including furniture. You really need to scale down. You
do not need to customize your home in order to sell, like a front auto plate.
You need to detach. Sure, you think your home is the best on the block with
lots of antiques and vintage furniture. But you need to show off your house,
not your belongings. Nobody really wants to rent a dingy storage space to put
all of your prized possessions and family photos in, but it is necessary in
order to sell your home and will help with the emotional detachment. And you
will be setting the stage for a home that shows better and will be more likely
to get a higher price. Always think of this as business.
Sadly, in today's market you cannot just stick a sign in your lawn and
have onlookers stumble in and make an offer. It's not as easy as applying custom
lead casting to your yacht. You have got to go that extra mile in order to
sell your home and letting go of any emotional attachments is definitely in
that extra mile.
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