Preparing you home for sale. List of your favorite things.

Author:  Gloria Bumanglag, GRI

When my husband and I listed our home to sell, we had just purchased a KitchenAid refrigerator, clothes washer and dryer a year earlier.  It was our intention to take the appliances with us to the new house until the buyers wrote it into the contract as part of the purchase price.  We were advised by our Realtor that it added value to the home and could possibly have been a deal breaker.  Reluctantly, we left the appliances in the contract and in the house.

Before  taking  your listing agent on the first tour of your home… look around the house to see if there is anything you plan to take with you.   Is the dining room chandelier an heirloom handed down from your grandmother?   Will you have to take the top of the line dishwasher and the Microwave/Convection oven with you when you move?  If the answer is yes, it will be in your best interest to replace the items before pictures go into the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) and websites and showings begin.   

You have the option to list it under exclusions in the listing agreement and the MLS, but let me advise you… if you say they can’t have it… they will want it.  If that custom framed beveled mirror over the bathroom counter is going to be the deal breaker, you will be kicking yourself the next time you tidy up for another showing or weekend of open house.

So, look around your backyard… if the gardenia plant is sentimental to you because your mom gave it as a house warming gift, put it in a pot before your first showing.  Oh and by the way, we bought new appliances to replace the ones we left behind… but it wasn’t as good as the previous models. 

For information on selling on buying your next home, contact Gloria Bumanglag, GRI-     Realtor for Century 21 Award.