Sunday 9 September 2012

Selling Houses Australia

As I lie here watching Selling Houses Australia I thought it was a good time to blog about our recent house selling adventures.  As you already know we about to build our new home and I'm sure there will be lots of blogs about that as we go on.  To do this we have had to sell our humble abode, the house we have been in for the last six years.

Selling has been a nervous process. It all started a few months ago with an attempt to de-clutter the house.  Our early efforts were not enthusiastic, and there was always an excuse not to do it.  I'm good at excuses to put things off.  The best way for us was to get some real estate agents in to check out the house, give us a valuation and get us working towards a deadline.

Over a few days we had six local agents through.  Unfortunately the house looked like a building site.  There were holes in the walls where I had de-constructed the picture wall.  There were boxes full of junk waiting to get to the tip or storage and the garage was hard to enter for more rubbish.  Luckily for us these realty experts could see through the mess to the gem beneath.  We found it hard to pick an agent but one felt the best fit for us, and he turned out to be great.

Now we had an idea of value it was hard to work, prepping the house for sale.  We painted one wall, this led to another, then another.  This is the problem with open plan houses, once one wall gets painted you need to do the rest! Luckily I had assistance from my wife who loves getting out the paint roller.  We emptied the house of clutter, culled clothes and toys and filled four of my neighbours  green rubbish bins as well as a tip run to empty the house and garden. We were ready!

A good clean and scrub and the house was photographed an inspected and ready.  We were nervous about the open house.  To sell in Australia you have open for inspection times on a Saturday.  We had been keeping an eye on how many page views the house had on line (dorky I know), so thought we should get a few.  We had eleven groups through during the 30 minute open house and a few had a good vibe according to the agent.  That afternoon the phone rang and we had two offers of asking price, fantastic.  Some quick negotiations and two days later the house was sold. 

With the shock of selling so quick, we now have to pack up and move. Exciting times!

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