BOOMERS AND SENIORS

DEALING WITH YOUR STUFF

In our previous article you had developed a financial plan so you know how much you can afford. You have also acquired the services of a Realtor® in whom you trust and have explored the housing options open to you. Now you have to think about selling your house. That brings you to several areas you have to deal with such as preparing your house for sale and figuring out what to do with all those things you have accumulated over the years. Most of which you will not need in your new home and lifestyle. This article focuses on dealing with your STUFF!

The first step is to decide what to keep, sell and toss to make your house as saleable as possible. You will need your Realtor® to help you with these decisions which mostly involve de-cluttering, updating and decorating. 

 De-cluttering doesn’t just include removing the boxes in the basement, but excess clothing, furniture, books, etc. Remember what you think is valuable might not be to anyone else. First you might contact family and friends and invite them to take (or buy) those items too good to throw out. More valuable items you might consider advertising in the Independent or posting on Kijiji or Craigslist. Then you might consider a garage sale. The remainder is likely destined for Goodwill, Waste Wise or landfill. There are services that will pack everything and cart it away to whatever location you decide and they will also store your ‘keepers’ until you are ready to move. All you have to do is make the decisions.

 Updating and some decorating might involve removing wallpaper, a fresh coat of paint, cleaning up the gardens, anything to make your house sell quickly and for the highest price. Your Realtor can help with both by providing someone to pack and take most of it away, as well as a Home Stager to assist with the decorating process to help your house sell for the highest price. Neither of these has to cost a lot!

For some people this is the hardest part of changing lifestyles. Sometimes our belongings overwhelm us.  A Realtor can make this process much easier.

This is the fourth of a series of articles on Boomers and Seniors and Downsizing. We encourage you to send your questions and ideas for future articles to lynn@lynnandjohn.ca  or call 905 873-0440.

 Lynn is a qualified Accredited Seniors Agent.  John is a Real Estate Broker and Chartered Accountant (FCA). Lynn and John work and live in Georgetown. Lynn is a sales representative and John is a Broker with Re/Max Realty Specialists Inc., Brokerage.