The year was 1989, and I was just about to learn the meaning of the word “boom.” We’d met one afternoon with a real estate agent who advised us that if we wanted to sell our Silver Lake home, we needed to paint the living room, re-stain the deck, and put fresh bark over the flower beds. She forbade me to stencil any more walls and left with a promise to add us to the MLS first thing in the morning.
We ordered the bark to be delivered the next day, ran to the store for paint, and came home to tackle the list. First up: painting the living room. While Dave went to the garage for a drop cloth, I opened the first can of whitely white, whitey-white-white paint … and promptly spilled the entire contents on our dark rust carpet. Want to know the formula for getting white paint out of rust carpet? All you need is two hours plus two frantic sellers with scrub brushes and about two bathtubs-worth of the hottest, soapiest water you can get your hands on. It’s that simple.
When we were done, you couldn’t tell there’d ever been a spill. (This would be a good spot to tell you about a more-recent incident in which I dumped an entire bucket of white paint on my head while moving a ladder, but that will have to wait for another column.)
We ran back to the store for more paint … which Dave forbade me to touch … and I watched while he painted the room. And even though I detest white paint on principle (who doesn’t like color?), I had to admit that the room felt bigger, fresher and calmer with that simple layering of white paint. Standing in our living room late that night, I wished we had done it much sooner, and I wondered how long I might enjoy our new room before someone bought our house and took that enjoyment for themselves.
Apparently, not long. Our house hit the market at 10 the next morning and by noon, five buyers and their agents were standing in our yard and driveway (next to the just-delivered bark we hadn’t had time to spread), and two of them were writing up offers on the hoods of their cars.
Thus, my introduction to the real estate boom of 1989.
If you’re considering selling your home in 2015, my suggestion is this: make those repairs sooner rather than later so you get a chance to enjoy them yourself. You probably have a good list going in your head. There’s the burned out light bulb in the pantry. There’s that one window with the big ding where your son threw an errant poker chip two summers ago. (Not that I have firsthand experience or anything.) There’s the door knob that jiggles, and the rickety cupboard door, and the missing hardware on a kitchen drawer. Those things are driving you crazy, aren’t they? You’d never sell your house with those little irritants in place because if they annoy you, they’ll annoy your buyers.
I recently took some clients to an otherwise lovely home that unfortunately had a kitchen full of barely clinging cupboard doors. The husband opened one door (and they all open doors, just so you know), felt the wiggle, and proceeded to test each and every cupboard door. He and I are still talking about those cupboard doors.
Maybe your list includes more substantial items, like replacing the garage door or laying new carpet. (Actually, how about if we go with hardwood? Most buyers love hardwood.) There’s no good reason why you shouldn’t have a little time with the new window and the fresh paint and the fixed cupboard doors before someone else owns them. So do yourself a favor and tackle the list one item at a time. At the very least, you’ll be in a great position to sell when the time comes.
And who knows? With all those problems gone and a facelift in place, you may just fall in love with your home all over again and decide to keep it for yourself.
Shannon Woodward is a local real estate agent.
