Designed to Sell on a Dime

[NMDemDist2]

as most of you know I am getting my house ready to sell

I looked around at what I could or would fix then starting working my beady brain on cheap cover ups and face lifts for what I wasn't replacing

the first thing we are doing (at our realtor's suggestion is just taking down any old window coverings if the window doesn't get direct light. Case in point the ancient dusty country blue vertical blinds that we had cut 2 feet off of 6 vanes to accommodate the doggie door in the patio slider. It's gone.

the roller shade and topper in the front bedroom/office that is facing north, gone

The slider in the bedroom is getting cleaned and the verticals in there cleaned and re-used

we put peel and stick vinyl wood like planks through out the entire house EXCEPT the kitchen which is tiled and the peel and stick still looks pretty good except one place in the living room.

Solution? an area rug. but at $99-$150 I'm not liking it. so today I went to my favorite thrift stores and found a 7'x9' beige (yes the dreaded "Realtor Beige") short loop pile rug with a good soft backing on it. Stained and dirty it was $17.99

got it home, took the Rainbow vacuum to it and it was better by half. It had about 4-6 palm sized stains on it but I had my trusty Folex spot remover http://www.folexcompany.com/ and they came right up, but then the rest of the rug looked dull so Mr K sprayed a light mist and I followed behind with a stiff bristle brush, we vacuumed it again and Voila! a rug good enough to show for $20

I also picked up a newer, cleaner, lighter shower curtain ($2.99) for the master bath

the cabinets where looking horrible with "alligator skin" dryness on all the thin oak panels, Murphy's Oil Soap ($4.99 for a big bottle) and a bottle of Old English for Light wood (also $4.99) and the cabinets are looking great!

We have lamps attached to walls by our bed that we are taking with us (so I don't want to re-mount them after we paint) so I found a cute little brass lamp for the bedside table $3.99. I'll pick up a cheap color coordinating lamp shade at Target for a couple bucks and be set.

Shift some art work around, take the Folex to the old couch for the doggy grime and to Mr K's recliner for coffee and salsa spots (have I mentioned Folex spot and stain remover??) and they'll be fine. My old rocker and foot stool were horrible teal when I bought them and since we had to replace all the springs and such when we got it and it fits me so well, for my birthday I ordered new cushions in a nice Mocha microfiber that we picked up today. A little Murphy's Oil and Old english on the wood and it will look brand new too (and that's the chair closest to the front door)

all in all I'm pleased so far

and the best of all my scores today?? a DUer sold me on a french butter bell butter keeper and I told her I'd look for one at the thrifts. She informed me NO ONE gets rid of them and just bite the bullet and order one. I just never got around to it, but today there was the perfect Butter Keeper in white, no chips or crazing for $3.99. Only took me a year to find one, but hey :shrug: what can I say???

:hi:

As soon as the Virtual Tour is up, I'll link it for all to see, we expect it to be online by the 18th or so.

[wildeyed]

1. Sounds like you are making great progress.

Can't wait for the link!

[babylonsister]

2. I'm exhausted just reading all of that-you have been busy!

Do you have a set date for when you start showing, and how's the market out there?

[NMDemDist2]

3. we're hoping the first open house will be the 20th or 21st. the market

is now "normal" average time on market is about 35 days

our area is one of the few with a low inventory though so we're confident we'll do well. we have a realistic price set for a home of our age and size and with the work we're doing we should get top dollar

we're thinking we could have sold it pretty much "as is" fairly fast, but with the work we think we're going to gain $15-20K

:headbang:

[babylonsister]

4. That extra $$ is surely worth all the effort!

Your 'show time' is fast approaching. Great good luck to you and Mr. AZDD6!

[troubleinwinter]

5. An experienced cleaning expert who helped me prep a home for sale

showed me to put several drops of real lemon oil on a cloth and wipe all the faucets and spiggots. They just GLEAMED sparkley 'new'!!!!

Has a light pleasant fragrance of natural fresh lemon. Also nice on the sink to sparkle it up. Can get lemon oil at the grocery store.

[NMDemDist2]

6. hubby used to use baby oil when he moved out of apartments to get

his deposit back

the devil! :evilgrin:

[eleny]

7. thanks!

i have exposed plumbing for our old fashioned tub on feet. the fixtures are new but they get can real filmy. next shopping trip, i'm getting the lemon oil. thanks a mil!

[troubleinwinter]

9. The lemon oil makes it look 'pretty' right off the bat,

but if ya put a little extra on it, a few weeks later, it will slough off even hard water deposits.

[eleny]

8. The Great Kooga Mooga consults his crystal ball...

Be ready to start packing - you're going to sell quick.

[NMDemDist2]

10. we'd bloody well better and at our asking price too!

all this work BETTER pay off!

:rofl:

[Warpy]

11. I sold my pop's house as is, as a slightly destressed property

that needed cosmetic work like replacing the carpets that had seen hard use since the house was built in 1963, avocado cut pile in the bedrooms, decorated with liquid Colace that never comes out, and painting the trim. All I did to stage the place was declutter a dumpster full, rearrange some of the furniture, and take multiple loads of saleable crap to Aunt Sally's Boutique. The average length of time for a house to sit on the market there was twelve weeks. I priced the place 5% below "market price" and it sold in a WEEK.

I must've done a good job staging the dump.

I hope you have equivalent luck and have a rapid sale. You've done a great job on the place.

[NMDemDist2]

12. we're in the last 48 hour push, it's starting to look great!

pics on Monday or Tuesday

I'm exhausted