I just need to vent. I have been wanting to move for sometime and after we were almost broke into last week we have decided now it the time. Only catch is we need to sell our house before we can buy another one and the stress of getting it ready seems overwhelming to me. We have sooooooo much stuff crammed into this house, plus we need to replace the roof and refinish our wood floors...which we have the money to do but it just seems like so much work...!
Plus I am so freaked out that it is going to take forever to sell in this market!.....I want to move now... 
Then I'm obsessing that if we do get a buyer that the home inspection might not go well and require a lot of money to fix something before the bank will loan someone the money to buy it.... UGH!
Anyone have any encouragement?...I really need it! I know that if it's God's will for us to make a change that he will provide a way but sometimes it's hard to keep that in mind. 
OKay...i'm done now 
One day at a time. One room at a time.
On the "sell this house" type of shows, they are always referring to "pre-packing". Lots of "clutter" can be removed by pre-packing and even renting a storage unit to keep them in. (Potential buyers don't want to see a crowded garage or basement, either.)
We de-cluttered when we moved from a 4 BR house to a 4-room apartment. Wow, did I clear out a lot of STUFF!!!! Be honest with yoruself about what you "need" to keep and toss the rest of it.
I had converted one of the bedroom to a storage room and by the time I went thru it all, I asked, "Why did I think I had to keep this stuff to START with????" 
If you are willing to pay the fee, perhaps you might do a pre-inspection before listing the house? This would tell you what needs done, what might be negotiable, plus you could advertise that the house was pre-inspected! If the buyer agrees to go by your inspection, they can save themselves the inspectin fee.
thank's yall! I woke up feeling refreshed about the whole thing this morning! And yes you are right about the pre-packing thing I had already planned to get some box's and start. I personally won't have much to throw out...my kids however...LOL!
I mentioned the pre-inspection thing to my husband and think it might be a really good idea...I think they run around $250 here so that is doable.
What happened....Well we live in an older area that is steadily declining. As I was getting into my car to take my son to school at 7 that morning a guy in a gray Tahoe passed by and backed up rolled his window down and was asking me if my husband wanted to sell his truck that was in the driveway. (this happens often as it is an older model classic truck)....any who I told him no and he kept inquiring. He finally left and I went about my day....came home and had a neighbor tell me that the same Tahoe came back around 10:30 and had backed up into the yard of the empty house next door. One man was driving and the other was in my back yard trying to get in. They saw the neighbor and when they did jumped back into the Tahoe and drive away leaving skid marks. He was never interested in the truck...just using it to find out who drove it. He had been seen the day before scoping out my house by someone else.......so he knew my husband drove a different car and knew that once i left the house was empty.
Yep, I love my retired nosy neighbors! They have a big picture window so they see everything. It might bother some people but not me. My son just moved into his first apartment and one of his neighbors is retired and sweeps the walk in the alley a lot. Although it's a bit creepy, I told my son, "He's the first dude to ask if something happens."
Try to think of sorting through things as freeing. We are held down by our numerous possessions more than we think. Every time I completely Spring clean a room I take everything out of it (including pictures on the wall). I always think, "This room looks so much better without all that crap in it." I don't want to put it all back in there. LOL
One man was driving and the other was in my back yard trying to get in. They saw the neighbor and when they did jumped back into the Tahoe and drive away leaving skid marks. He was never interested in the truck...just using it to find out who drove it. He had been seen the day before scoping out my house by someone else.......so he knew my husband drove a different car and knew that once i left the house was empty.
Wow, thank goodness for alert neighbors! One time my dd (17yo at the time) left the garage door open when she left for school. Our neighbor knew everyone in our family would be gone all day, so he went into our garage, hit the button to close the garage door, then ran out, being careful not to trip the auto-stop beam. He came over and told us about it that evening. What a guy!
And DD lost her car privileges for 2 weeks.
Oo, forgot to say...
We've been transfered around the country a few times, and here's my practical advice about getting your home ready for sale (in addition to pre-packing lots of stuff.)
INCREASE CURB APPEAL. Clean up the front yard and front entry. Rake the leaves & clear the brush. Paint the front door if necessary. Curb appeal counts for a lot.
FRESHEN UP THE PAINT, especially the trim.
ELIMINATE ODORS (animals, cooking.) Sometimes this means washing the curtains or having the carpets steam cleaned.
GET RID OF CLUTTER. Every surface in your house should be free of personal items--buyers should only see a few carefully selected items that add charm.
CLEAN EVERYTHING. Super clean. Sparkling clean. Q-tip clean.
Good luck to you!
I am a real estate agent in TN. I don't know if GA has the same thing but you can sell your house as is and not fix anything that might come up on the inspection. Now that doesn't mean you can get by with a known major problem, like roof leaking, HVAC not working, etc. It just means the little things, like painting, carpet, windows, new tile doesn't have to be done. You can offer a flat compensatation for something like new carpet, painting, etc. You can offer a reduction in the price to make up for the things that the buyer is looking for you to do. In today's market, houses are selling for a lot less in a lot of the states so there will be buyers looking to get a good deal. Having an inspection done is a good idea and then you can decide if you want to fix them or reduce your selling price instead. Sorry to hear about someone trying to break in. That very same thing is happening here too. A thieft ring breaking into homes after first knocking and if someone comes to the door asking if they were the ones with a car, truck, etc for sale. My son was broken into recently and a neighbor said they had come to her home first and she came to the door and they said they must have the wrong house. They were looking for a car that was for sale. They went to my son's house and kicked in the back door. MY dil had only been gone for about 3 hours. They got all of his electronics old coin collection, and some cash and his camera.
Hubby used to be in law enforcement and says the best security in the world is "a nosy neighbor"!
I guess i should start looking at our "nosy neighbor" a little different then huh? My biggest issue is when she comes to drop something off she comes in without being invited.... but that's another story for another day.
As for getting a house ready to sell, as others have said DE CLUTTER!!!! expecially if you have kids or have been in your home for a long time. A couple years ago when we were looking to buy a home we walked through over 100 homes. There were some that had a lot of potential, but we just couldn't "See" ourselves in, and after some reflection most of those places had to many personal items around.
I know you're still living there, but take down any photos of people. Family photos are nice, but you want the person walking through to be able to envision themselves there. It's a lot harder to do with family photos all over.
Another joy to the "pre-packing" is that you can get rid of things that you really dont' need and that is less to move!!! And this is a great time of year to donate it to places like Salvation Army or Good Will, lots of people buying things for Christmas
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