Selling a House
- See also: Selling vs. Renting ... Staging a House
Parent Q&A
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We own a Berkeley home that we are likely to want to sell in 5 years. Were we planning to hold longer, there are lots of things we would do to make it even more functional for our own use. And I know we'll need to make some improvements before we sell. We're looking for someone who can advise us on which improvements would increase resale sufficiently to merit the investment, so that we can prioritize those now and enjoy them while we're still in the house. Is this an architect with specialized knowledge? A broker with a medium time horizon for building business? An architect/contractor who does a ton of work with brokers pre-sale? Thanks for any tips on direction, firms, or individuals. And if this is you, I'm all ears! :)
Nov 1, 2024Reply now »Quickest way to sell home
–Sep 8, 2022We had a family emergency and need to relocate so we need to sell our home asap. What’s the fastest way to do this? We don’t really have the time or money to get it market ready. I would prefer a private sale to save money on using a realtor. However, I understand that realtors often sell at a higher price which we could use in our situation. Our home is in good condition and needs the typical cosmetic improvements, i.e new interior paint, refinished wood floors, etc. Could probably get more if we updated kitchen and bathrooms, but again no time or money to do this. Any advice would be appreciated especially if you’ve been in this situation or know someone who has. Our home is in Oakland, Glenview neighborhood 3bd/2.5ba.
Sep 8, 2022Cross-country home buying/selling
–Oct 5, 2021Anyone have experience selling a house in CA and buying a house across the country (bonus points for doing this during covid)? We’re trying to move back to the East Coast within the next year, but feel overwhelmed. We have 3 main questions: 1) Did you find a real estate agent and mortgage broker in your target community first? How did you negotiate open houses/bids while living across the country? 2) If you sold your house and used the proceeds to buy across the country, where did you live in the interim? It would be easier if we sold first, then rented in the new community, but moving 2x sounds rough on the kids, and we’re worried prices will continue to climb. 3) If you bought a new house before selling your existing one, what financing method did you use? A 2nd mortgage, or borrow against a 401(k), or HELOC, or…? Would love hearing how others have managed a cross-country move and lived to tell the tale.
Oct 5, 2021Tips on Selling our Home
–Sep 17, 2021Hello! I’m thinking about selling my home and would like tips on the best way to do this to save time, money, and get the best price. I’ve never been through this process so I’d appreciate steps on how to do this in today’s market specifically in Oakland as well as costs involved with selling.
Do I hire a real estate agent? If so, recommendations on anyone familiar with selling in Glenview? Or should I sell it myself and list it on Zillow or Redfin? Should I stage it and does it make a difference? Should we paint the interior and exterior? Exterior looks fine, but can use touch ups. Interior has some walls that have accent colors we painted 8 years ago.
How about taxes? How much can I expect to pay? Thanks in advance!
Sep 17, 2021Donating/gifting a house to relocate to another site?
–Feb 19, 2021Inspired by an SF Chronicle article from 2/19/2021 about a Victorian house being moved to another site within San Francisco, I wanted to post a question here if anyone has knowledge as to whether there exists a market for homes to be moved in the East Bay, or how to get in touch with interested parties or specialty brokers.
We have a single-family home in North Berkeley, single story, 1350 sqft, built in 1908, not historic as far as we know, but constructed from old-growth Redwood and in good shape. We're looking to construct a new home on the site (remodeling is not feasible given our new plans) and would love to gift or donate the old house to a person or organization that could use and enjoy it, if possible.
Feb 19, 2021Hate our house. Should we move?
–Feb 3, 2021We are hoping to hear wisdom from community.
We have never liked our house. The minute we bought the house, we had a huge buyer’s remorse. The things we dislike are difficult or impossible to change — size and shape of the lot, the internal layout, direction of the house, surrounding buildings, the particular street where the house is, easement, etc. We made a mistake... a terribly expensive mistake.
We have been here for 3.5 years, and we really tried to like the house. We added a bathroom and remodeled kitchen. We landscaped, painted, and decorated. I still dislike the house. It needs a bit more space and light and I really want a house that faces Southeast and not northwest.
I would love to move from Oakland to Pleasant Hill or Concord where we can get a bigger house with trees, a nice flat yard and a pool at the same price point. Spouse desires the same.
Even before the pandemic, our family outings and hang-outs were to drive to Walnut Creek or Concord.
the problem is kids love this house. They want to stay. We asked them if they wanted to stay even if the new house was twice as big with a big play room, swimming pool, hot tub, and swing set. They say they still want to stay here in this cozy house and close to friends. With the pandemic, we wonder if the familiarity and stability are more important for kids than daily comfort for us adults.
Parent in me thinks we should stay here and weather the pandemic to provide as much stability to kids as possible. But, I desire a bigger space and my own office instead of a make shift office in the hallway next to kids bathroom. It would be nice for kids to be able to bike around the house instead of us having to drive kids to a place where they can bike and run around.
We feel our neighborhood is too urban, and we thought we were urban people but are learning that we are really suburban people who like the option of being able to get to the city within 30-40 min. like to live in a quiet house with a lot of trees and flat grassy lawn and not next to a bunch of boxy apartment buildings where new people are constantly moving in and out.
Sometimes I wonder if we stay here long enough, kids will grow up and they will think this house is cool because it’s in an area that seems popular to young people (lakeshore/grand lake).
Feb 3, 2021Maximizing capital gains tax exclusion on sale of my house
–Sep 21, 2020I am considering selling my house and downsizing to a rental or perhaps buying something else. My house was purchased in 1992, and has appreciated a great deal. I met with a CPA and I may owe upwards of $200k in taxes when I sell. I'm single and bought out my ex's equity 5 years ago. I was hoping that the fair market value that we agreed on in our mediation would be my basis, but alas, I was mistaken. As a single person, I can exclude $250k from the proceeds from tax. My CPA estimated a taxable gain of $683k. I can't be the only person in the Bay Area to face this. I read on a blog a potential tactic of making my adult son a part owner in order to exclude another $250k. I need this money for my retirement. I'd love to hear from anyone else who's gone through something like this. If you used a tax attorney or a real estate attorney to advise you, I'd love a referral!
Sep 21, 2020Prep house for sale
–Nov 6, 2019I had a relative pass away with his main asset being his house in San Francisco. We plan to sell the house per his will. We've gone through the house to clear it of any personal effects so now all that is left is old furniture, clothing and other random items. Is there a service that can help us dispose/sell/donate these items? Can a real estate agent also help with this as part of their services in getting the house ready to sell?
Nov 6, 2019
Archived Q&A and Reviews
How to make a crowded house look more appealing
We are going to be selling our house and looking for a bigger one. I would love some advice from those who have sold houses before as to how to deal with making the house look more appealing for sale. I have read articles about staging a home - I'm not looking for how to stage our home per se. I'm really asking for something more basic about logistics: our house is very crowded in all the rooms except my daughter's. We have no place to put any of the stuff as the garage is already full (see why we're moving?!?!!). Logistically speaking, how does all of this happen? I have gone to many open houses. The houses are never cluttered and I always wonder where all their stuff is (though of course, they could just be neat). Do you have to get move the stuff just for a broker's open house and then once more for a regular folks' open house or do you have to get rid of the stuff longer term? The only reason our place is cluttered is as our daughter got older, her stuff got bigger. And we just all have too much stuff. While we can work on getting rid of stuff we don't need, most of this stuff is stuff we need, but simply don't have a good place for. Thanks in advance - we have never been in the position before, obviously. This is our first home.
In reply to the person selling their home. As someone who has just sold our home, our advise to you regarding clutter is just to bite the bullet and rent a storage space to store it in until you move. Our realtor advised us not to stage the house but just to remove about half of our belongings. It really made a difference. We saw many open houses that looked staged, and it really just seems so artificial to us...like you're living at Williams Sonoma or something. Our first open house was supposed to be the Sunday after 9/11. We put it off a week to assess the impact of the attacks on the real estate market. We had 2 successive open houses the following 2 Sundays and had several offers the next Tuesday to choose from and accepted one $30K over the asking price! I'm convinced our house was so well received due in large part because we removed half of the clutter that normally we don't think twice about. My wife and I are not normally super neat and with 2 small children, it's hard to keep toys and such off the floors and clutter off the counters and shelves, but we did it. We had a full basement to store most of our stuff in, but would have rented a space if we had to. Believe me, you'll more than recoup the cost of the rental and you'll get a head start on packing. A cluttered house will not show well. By the way, any good realtor worth his/her salt will advise you to do the same. Ours, Nacio Brown at Templeton Leverette (our old house at 934 Delaware is featured on his website, www.myberkeleyhome.com ) gave us many good recommendations that resulted in a quick sale for substantially more than the asking price directly following the worst terrorist attack in our nation's history. We couldn't have asked for better. Good luck. -Rob
I think it would be worth it for you to pack up a lot of stuff and put it in storage (away from the house) while you show the house, even if you don't have it staged. It seems like everyone stages their home these days, and I've heard that cosmetic details like newly done floors, having home painted, and putting in nice plantings in the yard, can make a big difference in the amount of money you can get for a house. A friend of mine sold their house about a year ago without a realtor. They had the windows cleaned professionally also. It made a big difference in how the house looked. -Andrea
A good agent should be able to advise you on what needs to be done to prepare your house for sale in this market. A house that is clutter free, staged, freshly painted (if needed) and of course priced appropriately will attract more buyers and sell more quickly than one that is not. If you don't have storage space in your garage/basement then renting storage space would be the best option. It takes a lot of work to put a house on the market, you want it to look as attractive as possible to prospective buyers so that it will sell quickly. The longer it stays on the market the more likely it is that any offer will be below your asking price. -Mary
Realtors do this, and those who are very experienced in your market will do it well. Call 3 top realtors very targeted to your immediate area and interview them in your home. Say you’re planning to sell in 2-5 years and are starting to prepare now. Ask advice. Aggregate their comments and ask for their recommended contractors. You care about what will SELL - they’re the only folks who deeply understand this.
Our realtor was helpful with this, but we were within a year of selling. I would ask around your network to find a realtor friend who could come by.
We are doing this very thing right now. We met with a few realtors to get some advice on what we would need to do to ready the house for a future sale and then decided to update/ refresh two bathrooms, kitchen, and add windows to our living room to make the view better and have a sunnier space. We are working with an amazing architect/ designer named Annie Lazarus. She has been incredibly helpful. She has great ideas and gets things done in a timely manner. She has kept us on budget too which is important. If you want to chat with me more please have the moderator send you my information. Annie can be reached at 415-378-4506.
Gretchen Davidson
One general rule is that the improvement most apt to increase market value of your property, relative to the cost of the work, is to build another bathroom.
My advice, comes from experience, as a retired real estate broker.
We worked with Megan Micco on this exact issue. It's worth reaching out to her: https://www.meganmicco.com/
Berkeley Hills Realty - look no further!
We worked with Tracy Sichterman, real estate broker and owner at Berkeley Hills, and one of her associates, Linda Van Couvering . We started talking with them about a year and a half before selling our home in the Berkeley flats in to determine which improvements would increase the resale value enough to make the investment worthwhile. I believe they still offer this as a service even if they are not your selling realtor, though you'd have to check.
We had used Tracy to buy our house, and we were really impressed with her structural knowledge of properties as well as her in-depth knowledge of market trends. Her skill in guessing the approximate cost of remodeling projects (later confirmed by bids) was almost uncanny. Although we have several wonderful friends who are architects, we didn't want to get carried away with spending, so our focus was on exactly what you're describing: will this project increase the value of our home in the eyes of prospective buyers?
Tracy was the first person that we thought of when we ended up selling sooner than we had anticipated. She's smart, a good listener, never pushes her ideas on her clients. She and Linda walked around our house, discussing the improvements we were considering--and occasionally making suggestion of their own. Linda has an amazing designer's eye. It made me not want to sell! I wish we had done what you're doing: remodeling or taking on projects so that you can enjoy them. It's so hard to work on beautifying a home that you love, only to leave all that work for someone else to enjoy. I think you're making a "smart move":). Good luck!
Berkeley Hills Realty: Tracy Sichterman tracy [at] berkhills.com (tracy[at]berkhills[dot]com) 510-520-0076
I’d advise work with your realtor + an interior designer. Realtor to give you perspective of what would give you the most bang for the buck considering your neighborhood and an interior designer who can execute on this by planning out the improvements end to end with a contractor. The upside of hiring an interior designer is that you’ll get the dual benefit of home improvements with respect to functionality as well as aesthetics, both crucial aspects while you stay in your current home as well as when you put it up for sale down the line. More importantly, interior designer can help plan out the improvements considering your budget to ensure you are spending the meat of your budget on things that will give you the most returns.
From my own experiences, I can provide you the following referrals for realtor and interior designer. I have worked with both and have been very happy with the results.
Interior Designer: Kshama Shah of House Of Design LLC.
Realtor: Danny Burgess of Porchlight Bay Area
Good luck with your project!
-Jay