Selling Our House In Less Than Two Weeks For Over Asking Price

In this post I’m going to share how we sold our house in less than two weeks for over asking price.

Because we had an accepted offer on a farm that was contingent on the sale of our house, we knew we needed to sell quickly and for the price we wanted. Our agent said houses that sit for longer than three weeks are, most likely, listed too high and interest dies down after that time even if the price is lowered. Knowing we wanted our house to sell quickly, we did some things that I believe helped us get a full price offer within the first week, followed by another offer five thousand over asking price the following day.

Planning Ahead

We knew that our cute little bungalow was not going to be our forever home. Keeping this in mind, helped us focus on how each project would aid in the sale of our house when the time came; like our kitchen and bathroom remodels. We also had so much time from the start of looking for a farm to actually moving (around two years), that we were able to finish projects around the house that made a big difference when we listed our home. Some of them were big projects and others were much smaller.

Fixing Eye Sores

We tried to fixed major eye sores or things that we thought would turn people off to putting in an offer. Selling was not our main focus when doing most of these things, but I do think it helped a lot when the time came!

Our basement had a really thin layer of concrete that wasn’t poured correctly when the house was build back in the 1920’s. There were really rough patches and holes all throughout the basement floor. None of it was structural, just cosmetic. My dad and Ben skimmed the floor with a fresh layer of concrete. It didn’t adhere to the floor as well as we were hoping but it did improve the look a lot. It also helped get rid of the slightly musty smell that was coming up through the holes and cracks.

The dining room had a giant old air conditioner in the window, and it was pretty rough looking. We decided to replace the old drafty windows and get rid of the giant air conditioner and replace it with a smaller more updated one. This really brightened up the dining room a lot and drew less attention to the fact that we didn’t have central air.

In January, we redid the little closet in the upstair hallway with shiplap to create a cute little loft space for reading, playing, sleeping, talking, etc. Taking off the tiny door and making that space into a cute little room was such a great idea! Even though we didn’t get to enjoy it for very long, it was such a fun space to have. It made the hallway feel less dark and closed in, and it was definitely a selling feature. People loved it!

We also painted anything that needed a fresh look; the basement, a few places around the house where the trim needed touching up, anywhere the walls were really scuffed and the front porch.

Anything that was broken or damaged, like the sticky door knob at the top of the basement steps, we also fixed or replaced.

Organizing Cupboards and Drawers

I spent a good amount of time organizing all the places I thought potential buyers might open up and look in. Making the spaces feel open and spacious was the goal. We didn’t want it to seem like there was a lack of storage in the house, even though it is significantly less than most modern houses.

Ben and I also organized the basement and put everything up on shelves. It was important to us to make it feel like a usable space instead of just an old basement.

Since we had basement laundry, I did my best to make it feel clean and refreshing. I purchased an area rug for the floor to help it feel like a clean space to sort and wash laundry.

Adding Curb Appeal

Our bungalow definitely has some cute things about it, but one thing that made the house really pop was painting the siding and trim. The color was very faded and it had grown to have a strange brown-pinkish look. You can read about our paint process here. Painting the house really made a huge difference in curb appeal. It made the house look updated from the outside.

I had a lot of fun creating curb appeal by planting flowers and adding in fresh mulch. Let me just tell you, fresh mulch can do wonders! It makes it all so crisp and clean looking. Adding in flowers didn’t hurt either.

This photo was taken the day we sold our house. The grass and flowers really came in nicely!

First Impressions

I think of curb appeal as the thing that draws people in and first impressions as the way people feel when stepping into your home.

The first thing that people saw when they entered through the front door, was a closed in front porch, often used as storage. Not a very good first impression if you ask me. So we did something about that space. We put a fresh coat of paint on the ceiling, walls and floor. We used paint we already had so it didn’t cost us anything extra except some sweat equity. I purchased some string lights from amazon and hung them zigzagging across the ceiling. The porch went from a storage space that you walked through quickly, to a light refreshing space that made you want to stay awhile. It was also a selling feature of the house.

Staging

Before going to sell, I always thought staging a home was everything. You know, remove all family pictures to help the buyers imagine themselves in the space better. However, we didn’t remove any family photos from the wall, but we also didn’t have a ton of pictures up there to begin with.

Staging for us, was mostly keeping the house spotless all the time so as to be ready for any buyers that might request a showing. It was definitely hard with little kids. I tried to make the clean up and keeping the house tidy fun, but I know it wouldn’t have lasted if we hadn’t sold our house so quickly.

The Things We Couldn’t Change

Only having one bathroom was definitely a deterrent for many people. After living with only one bathroom ourselves, I know why! But that’s not something we could change without a significant cost. So we made sure to have a solution when potential buyers made a comment about it. Bumping up the room in the loft space would create the prefect spot for a bathroom. Several houses in our neighborhood similar to ours had already done that. So our agent made sure to point that out to people.

Having no central air was also a real downer. No one likes window units. But that was also not something we were going to change just for the sake of selling. We did have someone give us an estimate for the cost of installing central air, and it wasn’t completely outrageous. We probably would have done it ourselves if we continued to live there longer. Our agent also made sure to pass that information on to potential buyers, especially if it came up during the showing.

Take Aways

I really think everything we did really helped sell our house in less than two weeks for over asking price. We also sold at a good time since the market in our town was really hot! Everything we did to update the house helped a lot to draw people in for showings and consider making offers. Plus, we got a super hardworking agent and she really did everything she could to market our home!

Let me know, are you selling anytime soon? What are the things you are focusing on to sell your home?

Renovation Projects

Kitchen Remodel

Bathroom Remodel

Painting Our House

Loft Remodel