I have good advice, because I watch way too much Property Ladder, Moving Up, and the HGTV shows. I’ll probably be sent to HGTV rehab soon, but it won’t work.
By the way, don’t be surprised after you move that you have a couple of things you have to rehome, because we all do that.
I second what Jan Weber said, and if you’re not willing to deal with buyer’s agents, that you are dramatically cutting your potential buying pool down. Without that you’re only dealing with people who have no agent, and since many people on house hunting trips already have an agent before they hit town, really limits the pool of potential buyers. Because there are buyer’s incentives from relocation agents, you’re really limiting the Military, and relocating civilian government worker buying pool, and in some places that is a deal killer. Don’t forget that in a buyer’s market many buyers demand that you pay all or a lot of their closing costs too, so you are just saving the 3% commission you would pay your seller’s agent.
The contractor I used for my post-fire remodel gutted and rebuilt houses, and advertised on the local FSBO site, because he had a good real estate attorney, a customized contract, and the buyer pool there was great. He had several bad sales with not so hot agents, so he started doing the sales himself, but he did deal with buyer’s agents.
I think we all have too much stuff, and it’s a drain on us having too much. There is no point storing, moving, and rearranging stuff that you don’t need or want. I think if you’re selling a farm you really need to declutter, especially outbuildings, and storage rooms. Just going through my own garage I found stuff I didn’t need or use, and I only moved in three years ago. However, if you are moving and want to sell after you move, then you could stage a house yourself with excess furniture, and I know people that had so much stuff they could do this. When they sold they gave the buyers the option to keep what they wanted, and they donated the rest. Rooms with furniture look bigger, and it doesn’t have to be great furniture either, because a matching bed in a bag, or a slipcover or two can make old furniture look great. I now it seems strange to say rooms look bigger with appropriately sized furniture, but they do. That’s why model homes have furniture in them, and why people pay to have homes staged. A staged home (and you can do this yourself, or get a friend with good taste if you need another opinion) sells faster and for more money, and it’s something we all can do. Ideally your house should look as if you don’t live there, but look neutral to appeal to the largest segment of the buyer pool. If you look at home with a lot of pictures on realtor.com, then you’ll get a great idea of what staged looks like. It’s a room with no personal touches, but looks comfortable, and without a bunch of big furniture that isn’t needed, because you never want a buyer to think the rooms are smaller than they are, or need major work. You don’t want to have rooms with wild colors that are difficult to paint over. I’ve looked at houses that had entire dark red rooms, and because that’s not my taste I know it would take a major effort to paint over it-probably three or four coats of primer and paint, so it would be a big drawback in a market with lots of inventory in the similar price point.
