A seller resource
Downsizing From a Long-Time Home
Selling a house you’ve lived in for a long time is different from any other sale. There’s more stuff, more history, and usually a list of updates the house never got. The good news: you don’t have to do those updates to sell it.
1. Start with your number
Before you shop for the next place, find out what you’d actually walk away with. I’ll give you a line-by-line net sheet: the likely price, every cost of selling, and what’s left after your payoff, if there is one. It’s the number every other decision rests on.
2. Decide the order of the move
Sell first
You know your exact budget, but you may need a short stay in between.
Buy first
You move once, but you may carry two houses for a while.
In between
A later closing date or a few weeks of staying after closing can often be written into the contract.
3. Don’t remodel for the next owner
A dated kitchen or bathroom is rarely worth redoing on your way out. Buyers of houses that need work expect to make their own choices. Spend only on repairs that stop a loan or cost little, and see Fix It or Sell It As-Is? Run the Math Both Ways before you decide.
4. Make a plan for the contents
- Take what you love and what fits the next place first.
- Let family choose what they want, with a deadline.
- Sell, donate or have the rest cleared out. A clean-out service can handle what’s left after you’ve moved.
- In an as-is sale, the contract can say what stays with the house, such as a shed full of tools or the appliances.
5. Gather the paperwork early
- Your deed and any survey
- Well and septic records, if you have them
- The age of the roof, heating and air, and water heater, and any receipts
- Past insurance claims on the house
Let’s start with the net sheet
I’ll come see the house, then walk you through what you’d walk away with and a timeline that fits your move.
Call or text 256.207.8127Request it onlineMelissa Harmel, Realtor®, CRS, ABR · eXp Realty, LLC · AL # 000164573-0 · GA # 451015 · Equal Housing Opportunity