5 Fresh Tips to Help You Get Your Marital Home Ready to Sell (and help you get through it sanely) with Realtor Holly Martins

Mar 1

Learning how to get your marital home ready to sell can be overwhelming, but you’re not alone! Check out these 5 Fresh Tips to help you get your marital home ready to sell (without losing your mind) with realtor Holly Martins.

I’m a divorced mom of two kids and a full-time Realtor. With a background in social services, and a lifetime of experience in the world of divorce, I understand and empathize with the many transitions that occur during the process. That’s why my business is client centered: my goal is to ensure the people who I’m working for are educated, advocated for, and taken care of from start to finish. This is not a sales business to me, it is the business of helping people and families move onward and upward.

You can learn more about Holly Martins on her Fresh Starts profile.

5 Fresh Tips to help you prepare your marital residence for sale:

Figure out where you're going first. Putting the cart before the horse never works out well, and that applies to real estate, too. Especially in places like New Jersey where homes seem to sell in a second. The BEST thing that you can do before you put a for sale sign on your lawn is figure out where your next stop is. If you're moving in with family, have conversation with them about where you'll be staying within their home and where all of your belongings will go. If you're planning on renting an apartment, start looking at your budget and what's available. If you're planning on buying a new place, you'll need to have conversations with your money person (financial advisor, accountant, or lending institution). It's critical for your own peace of mind and for the ease of a transaction to know where you're going to be resting your head at night once the house is up for sale. Remember: if you have pets, you'll need to factor that into conversations if you're staying in someone else's home or if you're going to be renting! Make sure you communicate your plan with your Realtor so that they can help guide you through that process/timeline in relation to selling your home.
Figure out your timeline. The standard timeline for a closing here is between 30-60 days, which is not a lot of time to organize, pack, and move. If you know you're going to need 5 months in your marital home before you can move into your next place, make that crystal clear to your attorney, spouse/ex-spouse, and Realtor. Everyone needs to be on the same page with timelines; the worst thing you can do is put yourself in a position to move out before you're actually ready to! And once you've got that timeline established, you'll need to move on to Herculean step 3.
Sort through your things and begin purging what you don't want or need. Do you know what the best way to eat a whale is? One bite at a time. Our homes have a lot of STUFF in them - especially if we've lived there for a while and even more especially if we've had kids. Things seem to breed in basements, attics, garages and closets where they're forgotten about or left to be dealt with another day. If you're selling your home, that "another day" has arrived, and now you're faced with the daunting task of cleaning out the house. I know, moving is overwhelming. Divorce is overwhelming. Staging a house is overwhelming. But, the more lead time you give yourself, the easier this will be. If you have a long timeline, commit to just one box/garbage bag of stuff per day. If you don't have the luxury of wading through belongings for months, then call in for reinforcements: friends/family, estate sale companies, donation organizations, home organizers. Whatever your budget is, try to find ways of getting more hands in to lighten the load. Good to know: most estate sale companies will charge a commission based on the revenue generated by the sale, which is a great way to get help and make some money without having to pay upfront! Think of it this way: when you sell the home, it will need to be delivered vacant. All of your things need to be out - even that stuff living in the back of the closet you haven't looked at since 2010. Every opportunity to have to chip away at it in advance will be time well spent so that you aren't completely overwhelmed at the 11th hour. If your spouse/ex-spouse still has belongings in the home, or if you two need to agree on what to do with certain belongings per your divorce stipulations, have a conversation early on and make a plan to get those items dealt with. I have witnessed witnessed people dumping their ex's belongings on closing day because there wasn't a plan in place, and it's not pretty.
Invest your time (and money) wisely. When you are interviewing Realtors to list your home, ask them what their opinion is on correcting issues around the house. Sometimes homes really just need a deep cleaning and a tidying up - what I refer to as a Mary Poppins Day. Or, there may be inexpensive ways for you to make your home look better in the eyes of a buyer or home inspector, which will lead you to a better sale price. If you know of any defects (lets say the water heater is on the fritz or the roof is leaking), be upfront and disclose that so that you can have a conversation about how to best address the issue. In some instances it's necessary to invest in a repair beforehand, but in others you may be able to negotiate it during the sale process. You'll want to have these conversations early on so that you've got enough lead time to do the work. And make sure you discuss any repairs with your spouse/ex-spouse or attorney before taking them on - you'll want to make sure any money you invest into the house for the sale is accounted for so that you can be properly and proportionately reimbursed. Remember: the more time you give yourself to prepare, the less stressful this process will be!
Find representation like Switzerland. And play nice. The Realtor who you hire to sell the house needs to be a neutral third party who is representing BOTH of the sellers of the house. They are not there to pick sides or play favorites; they're there to ensure you are selling your biggest asset for top dollar, and, they're advocating for you both. They should also have some experience dealing with divorce listings, and they should be asking both of you what your needs/wants/concerns/timelines are. They should feel skilled in managing what could be an uncomfortable or contentious set of circumstances. They need to maintain professional, calm neutrality at all times, so hire someone who you agree feels like a good fit.
And you'll need to be nice, too. Remember, if you co-own the house with your spouse/ex-spouse, you have to agree to the terms of the sale together. There is a lot of negotiating that happens throughout the process (whether it's agreeing to an initial list price, agreeing on an offer you receive, deciding how to handle inspection findings or navigating appraisal issues, and handling the contents of the house). If you two aren't able to get on the same page and act as a united front, the sale is sure to be messy; try to leave pettiness and resentment at the door so that you can sell the house and move forward. That said, if you feel that it is not in your best interest to work directly with your spouse/ex-spouse in this process, make sure you articulate it to your divorce attorney and your Realtor in advance so that a strategy can be clearly outlined for communication - even if this means your attorneys are handling the sale of the house in your stead.