Yesterday we met with our second realtor of the week which will brought a little more clarity, and we have made the decision to go to market at the end of the month regardless of what else happens. Without getting into specifics or numbers, Adam and I came to the decision that now is the time for us to sell and we can find an apartment wherever we end up (whether that also means here in Chicago or not). The current market dictates that we will most likely sit on the market for a little bit of time. To price aggressively to sell quickly would most likely mean a loss of a significant amount of money for us. We'll have to be patient and wait for the right buyer to come along. When we actually do go under contract, it's taking longer now for people (especially the first time buyer that will most likely be attracted to this condo) to get financing in place. I don't think that is a bad thing, I'm actually happy to know that financing isn't as easy to obtain now, but in our situation we are prepared to have to wait on the details for a few months.
Staging our house is going to be a complicated process. Most of our furniture is too big and won't show the condo well, so we are beginning the replacement process. Other than the money it will cost us, I am OVERJOYED to get rid of the things that I was not around to pick out. I am looking forward to living in a place that reflects a little more of my taste. I think the smaller furniture will also serve us better in the future, no matter where we land. We have a RATHER LONG to do list and about three weeks to tackle it before our target date to hit the market. The hardest part is going to be packing up so many of the things we use on a regular basis to de-clutter the space and mask the fact that as a married couple we have completely outgrown the space. The kitchen is going to be such a sad and lonely place without the vast majority of my tools but I eagerly await the payoff in the end when we move to a place with a kitchen I can get excited about cooking in!
The real estate market in Chicago is heavily dictated by the seasons and the optimal time is the end of March to list/buy a home. I'm trying to be optimistic that there will be buyers that will fall in love with our place.
Since I forgot to take real "before" pictures of the house, pre-staging, I'll leave you with the pictures of the things that I posted on Craigslist that were items that have to go for us to be able to show better.
Our bookcase, which obviously is a SAD thing for me to give up. Bye bye books, have fun at the U-Haul Storage Facility for many moons.
My personal piece-de-resistance. AMEN that the orange couch is leaving us. (I'm still sitting on it because everyone is low-ball offering us on CL and that makes me irritated, trust me, I listed it for several hundred bucks less than Adam wanted to because I am not color-blind and I realize that it is a grotesque orange couch of giant proportions.)
This made me sad when we sold it yesterday. I LOVED this bench and storage solution but it really did take up a good deal of space in the living room. We also listed the blue rug and orange rug below on CL's Free Stuff listings and holy moly the emails! Both were gone in about an hour.
We went out and about today and found a new couch at World Market and a really cute tiny recliner at Home Goods. I really want to sell the orange couch before we actually purchase the chair at Home Goods so we'll find out in a few days hopefully if it was meant to be ours or not. What an adventure this home selling process is!!
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