Earlier this year, my husband and I decided to sell our condo and upgrade to a single family home. We called our trusted real estate agent, talked to her about our plans and started our next adventure.

Luckily, I get to read home selling tips on a daily basis from our Propopoly® bloggers. I remember one of our bloggers, Julie Sarton from Keefe Real Estate, writing about how to stage a home. She did a series of posts on how to stage your kitchen, bedroom, living room, and more. Her posts were very helpful and offered great advice. After reading them, we took action and started staging our home to sell. We…

  1. Rented a storage facility to eliminate some of our “clutter” (i.e. our Wii Rock Band set, etc.)
  2. Displayed fresh cut flowers on our kitchen table
  3. Cleared off our kitchen and bathroom countertops
  4. Bought new towels to display in the bathroom
  5. Stopped using our elliptical as a closet

We were surprised at how many showings we had within the first week our condo was on the market. On day six, we had a couple coming over to view the condo for the second time. Four days later, they became our buyers.

So… how did we sell our condo in 10 days in this market?

  1. Listing Price: We listened to Steve Harney’s advice on pricing your home to sell.  We looked at what other similar units were selling for today and used this to set our price
  2. Staging: We made our condo look neutral and uncluttered so that perspective buyers could picture themselves living in it, not us
  3. Sensible upgrades: Due to lack of storage in the unit, we transformed a recessed wall into a closet
  4. Started with a good asset: Our condo was nice, in a great location near public transportation, great restaurants, bars and shopping.  This is what originally sold us and is what sold the current owner
  5. Worked with a great agent: She helped us think through the major decisions but always took our final decisions in stride

Did we make bundles of money on our sale? No, but we achieved our goal of selling our property quickly at a fair price and now have capital available for a single family home. 

Posted By: Jennifer Sciortino