Prepare yourself to be insulted.

If you or your loved one is over 50, chances are you’ve collected a few mementos over your lifetime which you have beautifully displayed in your home.

If those items are extremely unique... if they are expressions of deeply held religious or political beliefs...or if you’ve owned them for more than a couple decades, there’s a chance that those items that you love so much, could hurt your ability to sell your house.

I know it’s hard to hear, but when it comes to selling a house, it’s essential that you
depersonalize and genericize your home as much as possible.

Why? Because if people are sending their time looking at your things, they’re not spending time looking at the house.

What’s better is a staged, generic looking house that other people can imagine themselves living in. And the more the home looks like something they’ve seen on HGTV, the better.

Don’t repair everything you think...

By: Kelly Vandever

Earlier this year, I helped my dad relocate from Florida to be near me. One of our biggest challenges was getting rid of the things that wouldn’t fit into his small apartment. It was overwhelming. I found the same thing when working with some of my older clients. They wanted to sell their homes and got overwhelmed with all the stuff and how to get rid of their things. I started collecting good ideas from I’ve come across or that I’ve learned from my clients when it comes to getting rid of stuff. In the next few posts, I’ll share my top rules of thumb for getting rid of things either for yourself or when helping your aging parents downsize their stuff.   

First Rule of Thumb – #1 – Paper Purge 

 My dad had documentation from when he and mom first got married.  Bank statement from accounts closed in the 60’s or 70’s. Of course, the apple...

By: Kelly Vandever

Getting ready to move, especially when downsizing, can be hard.

But maybe getting a little cash for your things you don't want to keep might make the process a little easier.

Here are 5 Tips for Selling Items on Facebook Marketplace!

1 – Post all your items at the same time and when you know you’ll have time to respond

One of the things that surprised me the first time I posted items was how quickly people will hop on a new item for sale.  I was just casually posting one Sunday night and my Facebook Messenger exploded with notifications!  I really wasn’t ready to start responding until the next day. 

And it appears that the FaceBook algorithm prioritizes recent items and multiple items from the same seller. 

People trying to buy things on Marketplace tell stories about missing out on their sought-after item because they were slow to respond.  That also means they’re looking at other items just like yours.

To...