When You Want to Sell in the Spring

Now is an ideal time to get your house ready to sell in the spring. One of the most important jobs you have is to declutter and the winter is the perfect time to take on that task. You spend a lot of time indoors and can focus on one room at a time.

We are not planning on selling our house but every winter, I pretend we are. The other day I tackled my closet. This is no easy task as the closets in our 1927 house are minute. I don't know if people had fewer clothes in the '20s but I can barely fit one season in my closet. So the other day I took a good look at everything jammed into the small space.

Here are the usual questions to ask: Have I worn this in the past year? Am I ever going to lose the 10 pounds (20?) needed to fit into those pants that still have the tags on them? (Okay, maybe you don't ask that question, but I do...) What about all the shoes on the bottom of the closet floor? Especially the ones that hurt after 30 minutes of wearing. (They are never going to be comfortable.) Get a large black trash bag and start loading it up for Good Will.

Next, bookcases. Am I ever going to read some of those paperbacks again? How about the hardcovers? Do I care about those authors? Could someone else enjoy those books? Box them up for Good Will.

Kitchen? Old pots and pans. Too many coffee mugs? Bring them to the office. Attic? Are there boxes still packed from the last move? Look inside quickly and get rid of the contents unless they have sentimental value. Basement? Old paint brushes, cans of paint, broken this-and-that. Get rid of them! (Dispose of paint and other paint like products properly. Chittenden Solid Waste can advise you.)

Do your walls need a fresh coat of paint? Now is the time for a new color but keep it neutral. Or touch up with the same color.

Don't worry about the garage. That can wait until the spring.

Don't wait until you are ready to sell to declutter. If you tackle everything room by room in the winter, you will have time in the spring for outdoor clean up, creating great curb appeal, and planting flowers.

So, the next cold or snowy day, pick a room, grab some black plastic bags and ruthlessly declutter. There are new Good Will stores in Williston and South Burlington. Oh, and another rule -- When you drop off your clutter to the Good Will, DO NOT bring anything new home!

Team Work in the Buying and Selling Process

We recently closed the sale of a house that was financed by a Rural Development loan. This is a government based loan that allows buyers to finance 100% of the purchase price and buy a home that is in a designated rural area. Certain towns qualify for "RD" loans. Additionally, buyers must meet guidelines for income.


RD underwriters are very particular about the house they approve for a loan. A special appraiser is a part of the process and this appraiser makes recommendations for repairs that must be made to make a house safe. Typically, electrical issues come up, broken windows need replacing, roofs need repairing. You get the idea.


In addition, buyers typically hire inspectors to go over the house and tell them where there are safety issues and where improvements should be made. Often an RD report is filled out by the inspector and sent to the underwriter.


In this recent house sale, the inspector cited a foundation wall -- really a retaining wall in the basement area that was sort of a stairway/breezeway from garage to basement -- as needing to be monitored. He did not raise concerns with the buyers. The buyers accepted the inspection. But, the inspector implied in his report that it was an entire wall of the main foundation on the footprint of the house! So, RD wanted it fixed -- and we found out late in the process!


Enter the buyer who is a Master Mason! He and the seller spent the weekend tearing apart areas of the retaining wall, putting drainage gravel in the ground and smoothing the wall with a skim coat of concrete. Voila! A beautiful wall. It passed inspection!


The house sale closed yesterday. What a beautiful example of team work! The seller wanted to sell; the buyer wanted to buy; and they all worked together to have it happen. In fact, after it was over, they opened some wine and celebrated. Is this the start of a great friendship?


Buying and selling houses requires team work: the agents, the lender, the buyer, and the seller all have to invest time and energy to make the sale work. They can compromise in some areas and in others, requirements are set in stone and can't be compromised. But in the end, if everyone pitches in, the deal comes together!














(Note from Karin: For those of you who follow my blog -- and I thank you -- I'm sorry it has been so long since my last post. There was a death in the family and that temporarily stalled my writing. But I'm back. Thanks for your loyalty.)