My husband and I decided, after living through the snowiest winter Baltimore has ever had, to follow a dream we’ve had for years. We are going to sell our home here in Maryland, my home of the past 17 years, and move to southern 
Arizona. We had previously looked at buying a house there 4 years ago, but the market there was sizzling hot then, the worst time to buy. Now the market there has tanked. Which makes it a perfect time to buy there.
The first thing I want you to know is yes, I will be selling FSBO just like I teach you. I already have my Truth About FSBO system out (I printed it out and put in a binder) and am following it checking off things as I do them. Frankly, even I having sold many of my own houses would be at a loss without the step-by-step approach. I can’t remember all this stuff!
Before I even picked up a paintbrush I got an appraisal. Yup, “Miss FSBO” paid for an appraisal. Hey, this is no place to screw up. If you don’t price your house right you won’t sell it, at least not easily and not for a long time.
I’m going to be chronicling the sale of my house on TruthAboutFSBO.com/blog. You might think I’m taking a big chance, “What if she can’t sell her own house?!?” . Well, stay tuned. I’m so confident that I’ll sell it fast for a good price that I’m laying myself on the line here. You can watch me sell my house as it happens. It either will be a big success or a flop, in which case I’ll really embarrass myself. I don’t HAVE to do this, but I want to show you selling FSBO successfully really can be done.
The last month we’ve been getting the house in tip top shape. We had our hardwood floors refinished. That was the only thing we paid to have done. We stripped wallpaper and painted. My husband removed a bathroom vanity, fixtures, sink, and mirrors and replaced them with all new. It looks fantastic – like a different room – for around $800. We did a quick painting once over on all the woodwork in the house to freshen it up. I also painted our shutters and front porch railing the same color that it is/was. I couldn’t believe how much it had faded. Now it really pops! I washed the windows in side and out. What a difference that makes – everything now sparkles.
Outside, I trimmed bushes and trees. We had a lot of damage from the 5 feet of snow we had. I’ve reseeded some bare spots in the lawn, cleaned the decks and sidewalk, but mostly I’ve laid mulch. So far 56 bags and counting. But, man , is it ever worth it. I can’t think of anything you can do to your yard that gives you more bang for your buck than laying mulch. We’ll have our driveway resealed in a few weeks, unfortunately we can’t get anyone to do it until after we’ve listed it. We’re not waiting on this.
My son just bought his first house a few weeks ago, so the timing was perfect. I gave him some furniture and miscellaneous stuff that he needed and I decided wasn’t worth moving. We keep our belongings to a minimum so our decluttering was a minimal effort. However, we will be having a big yard sale before we move of things that won’t make sense to move. I’ll be able to sell my lawn mower – no grass in the desert. Whoopee!
So the house is rehabbed, decluttered, and largely cleaned other than normal weekly cleaning.
Starting tomorrow I’ll be keeping an online diary of everything I do to sell my own house, so stayed tune and you can either watch me succeed or watch me flash and burn!
