Selling My Home and Working in Real Estate

Selling my Home, even as an experienced real estate agent and now as an advisor, selling your own home, is never as easy or as simple as it sounds.

The reality of the process, of house preparation, of agent selection, listening to agent speels, and of their price thoughts vs my decades of experience as an agent and now as an advisor for home sellers. 

My understanding is now much deeper. 

We interviewed our first agent last week with more to come this week. 

My agent selection criteria is quite detailed and not all make the cut. 

It’s been tricky. We are finally ready and most agents were on holidays, due back this week. Their unavailability was not a surprise, it was Christmas after all. It was how they responded to my request for an appraisal and their follow-up that was the surprise. Very interesting from a real estate advisor point of view, and from a customer experience. 

Selling My Home and the Work Involved

The nitty gritty, the cleaning ( I loathe housework), further sorting, presenting the house, and how to make it look as good as possible. 

The jobs that you may have ignored because your life is full, work, work, work in my case as a real estate advisor for home buyers and sellers, volunteer commitments, and most importantly, family.

What to do, what not to do, the lists have covered pages on a noticeboard in our kitchen for at least 18 months. The stuff that lines our hallways as I categorise, and decide on what stays and what goes. If it goes, who does it go to?

Selling My Home and the Cost Involved

We are not spending a fortune, we are not ‘staging our home’ (renting furniture), we are using our own. It’s a bit tired, it has had ALOT of use, however, if we take it out we need to store it and it’s just ANOTHER thing to do and another bill to pay. 

We have been in our house since it was built and inevitably things have broken down. Generally, we have fixed as and when needed, however, there are things that we hadn’t paid much attention to as they weren’t a big deal. I have always asked/told clients to fix the safety things, use elbow grease rather than your hard-earned money.

We want to spend the money at our next home as it will most likely be a renovator. I also understand that my taste is not everybodies, and I watched as clients invest a great deal of money in their current home before selling it, only to be disappointed to watch their money and time, get thrown out by new owners who didn’t like their taste.

Selling My Home and the Time Consuming Process.

The biggest lesson that I have learned (maybe, we haven’t sold yet!) is that decluttering and house presentation takes 3 times longer than I expected. If you are a past client then I apologise for my expectations of time, effort, and the mental gymnastics involved.

It’s not stepping stones of logic, that’s way too simple. It’s one step forward, another back or maybe to the side. Progress is made by taking the first step and then the next…

Decisions to make about what to do, and the order to do it in, should form part of your time management. I understand, I truly do.

For my clients, working with me is simple, my focus is on you, your circumstances and ensuring your receive independent, unbiased advice and assistance.

If you are buying a home, I have an ebook that should help, called Home Buyers Guide – Your First Four Steps Before You Buy

Find out more about me and working with a real estate advocate or home buyer /seller advisor