One of the things my husband’s company suggested was that we not sell our house. It turns out right now is a very hot real estate market, but with that it is a tight rental market too. So that is what we decided to do – rent out our house.
We are very fortunate to have a great property management company that has done a lot of the heavy lifting and will take care of things on the ground after we leave. The past several weeks have been spent doing all of those repairs you neglect when you live in the house, but you do before you put it on the market. Everything inside and out was freshened up. (If you need of a property management team in Houston, I highly recommend Olympus/Nelson Property Management.)
Staging. When we moved last time, we left the house before we listed it, yes I know we were incredibly fortunate. This time, not so much. I stole a tip from a friend who just sold their house and bought a bunch of new, fresh, white towels. Last Friday night, I reminded my daughter and her friends that these were not for us to use, they are just for show. I went out and bought flowers for the kitchen and main bathroom. Because you always have flowers in your bathroom, right? All of our personal photos were taken down and hidden away. The house was ready for its close-up.
Why is it that we gussy up our homes before we put them out in front of the world, but don’t put the same level of care to make it a retreat for us?
Pictures were posted Friday and we had our first showing the next day. As I write this , we are on day five of the listing and the response has been positive. But…this was the view from my driveway today.
In our neighborhood there is always construction underway as original post-war houses are torn down and replaced with big state-of-the-art houses. The lot next door is getting ready for this same transformation. Honestly, I am glad to miss the construction, but it could be a negative for potential tenants. Here I thought we had done everything possible to put our house in the best possible light. Just when you think you have it all together port-a-potty shows up…
Red, White and Tulips 