Upon the recommendation of the listing agent, we made an appointment to have A Stager come to the house. I dreaded the idea, as I took a lot of pride in making my home beautiful and I enjoyed interior design. I didn’t want to hear the list of items she would have for me to do. Luckily, I had begun to distance myself from the house as I was exploring all the ideas I had for the next house. So, I was thinking of it in the practical sense of dollars and cents. I also was thinking of all the work that lay ahead in the next house and I didn’t relish doing work on the old house.
She came with a post-it pad and informed me that the post-it meant the items needed to be removed. The first thing she tagged was the entry wallpaper, and most of all the wallpaper in the house: in the master bedroom, the guest bedroom, the guest bath and the powderroom. OH NOOOO! Then, she tagged various pieces of furniture: two bookshelves, the piano, the ornamental birdcage, the grandfather clock, the bar cart. OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!
A dear friend who is a photographer, offered to take photos of the house. This way, we would always have photos of the way our home looked. We truly loved our home. But, the reality is that once you put your house on the market it no longer is your home and you must make every effort to market it to the best of your ability to get the most money for the property.
So, began the transformation…
Action Item #1: Do all necessary repairs.
Action Item #2: Remove the wallpaper.
OMGosh-That is an awful job. Perhaps I was doing it wrong, or perhaps it was the fault of my honey for not sizing the wallpaper when he installed it all those many years ago. But, after a long, hot day with the steamer in the small powderroom and only getting 1/2 of the room done as it came down in bits and pieces, I swore that I would never ever install wallpaper again.
Action Item #3: Box up all the clutter.
This is when you are glad that your husband has a SUV. “Can you stop by the liquor store and get some boxes?” As you clean out all the buffets, cabinets, shelves, closets, storage areas and unnecessary clutter and box it up.
Gone are all the family photos and cherished childhood mementos; for the goal is that the potential buyer envisions themselves in the house. So, the items get packed up and the boxes begin to stack up. Before long, it no longer resembles your cherished family home and you look forward to getting out, as you feel unwelcome in your own house.
We are closing on the foreclosure first. We will clear out the bulk, all 22 years of items that have accumulated. We will move out, keeping just enough furniture behind to allow the potential buyer to see each room’s assets. Then, the house will be listed.
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