Buying Into Your House
Sunday, November 19, 2006; Page M05
An odd thing happened when my wife and I recently put our house up for sale: We kind of wanted to stay. For once, the house was uncluttered, less crowded and clean, and all the little nagging cosmetic flaws had been repaired. It was our house, only better.
When it came time to sell our Capitol Hill townhouse, we had to break our backs for a week doing all the stuff we'd put off over eight years. And I learned some lessons that I hope to apply to our next house well before we try to sell. We could have lived in a nicer place all that time had we just looked at our house periodically with the fresh eyes of a buyer.
  Tim Runnette of Waldorf fixed up his garage this month as he and his family prepared to put their house up for sale. But you don't have to wait until the place goes on the market for such touch-ups: Just take the time to view your home through the eyes of a buyer and grab some tools. (By Olivia Boinet For The Washington Post) Hey, Nice Robe! (And Other Messages for the Queen) |
Neat as a Pin!
First, there's the clutter. Let me say right off that we are not lazy slobs, but the phrase "life is too short to do housework" was often tossed about. Clutter collected, resulting in possessions of every description.
Before any real estate agent will show your house to potential buyers, he will demand that flat surfaces be cleared of those stacks of paper, tchotchkes and loose pieces of whatnot that seem invisible to you. One example: We had a shallow bowl on our kitchen table that held safety pins, an old watch band, a key to nothing and little plastic pieces that we were afraid to throw away for fear they were critical parts of . . . something.
Not only is the junk in the bowl gone, but the bowl is gone, too. It takes only a little extra thought to either put stuff in its proper place or throw it away.
Ample Storage!
It's not just clutter that puts people off, it's stuff. Closet space is important to buyers, and my closet shelves were stuffed with sweaters and hockey jerseys, most of which I never wore. This made a roomy closet look too small, and every other storage space, shelf and hidy-hole in the house was similarly crammed. So we had a yard sale to sell what we could and then shipped off the rest to Goodwill for a tidy tax deduction. We felt physically lighter.
Incidentally, while our house was on the market, we visited the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Pope-Leighey House near Mount Vernon. It was Wright's version of a house for the common man. Like all of his houses, it is beautiful but has very little storage space. The lesson: Wright designed houses for people, not for people's junk.
Immaculate!
To sell, a house has to be clean. If you wouldn't buy a house with half an inch of dust on the bathroom light fixture, why would you live in one? If you lack the initiative, cleaning services will come to your house to do a "deep clean," and you'll find they tackle stuff you didn't even realize was dirty.
Once the dirt is gone, think of other ways to tidy up. Such as: You need a recycling bin, but does it have to be a plastic eyesore skulking in the kitchen corner? A large wicker basket can serve, and perhaps it can do so out of sight against the wall under the table.
And now that some storage space has opened up in your closets and cabinets, items used on a less-than-daily basis can be out of sight. Unless your blender is a piece of art, stow it.
Needs a Little TLC . . .
Last -- and these are the things that really had me kicking myself -- are those little touch-ups here and there that collectively make a big difference. If I had realized that all it took was 15 seconds with an adjustable wrench, I never would have lived with a slightly wobbly toilet for eight years.
A few squirts of Gorilla Glue, and our unstable vanity was solid as Gilbraltar. A few dabs of paint, and the woodwork was spotless again. Half an hour with a can of spackle and a replacement tile, and that unsightly crater in our kitchen floor was gone.
Priced to Sell!
So here's what I'm proposing for our next house: Every six months or so, we'll pick a rainy Saturday and announce that our house will be going on the market the next day. Maybe we'll even have friends over Sunday to simulate an open house. Then we'll look at the house anew and spend the day decluttering, tightening, cleaning, fixing and touching up.
We'll take a trip to Goodwill. We'll think of better ways to live with less. We may not clean that much, because life really is too short to do housework, but we'll clean anything that we really should. And at the end of the day, we'll be sold on our house again, and it will have cost us nothing.
