Fixin’ to Sell : Repairs, Decorating Can Help You Get Rid of Your House Faster--for More
Interior designer Fred Wiedenbeck, who owns Casella West Interior Design Group in Corona del Mar, accidentally got into the business of designing homes for resale.
“I had a friend with a great little cottage in Laguna Beach who couldn’t sell his house,” said Wiedenbeck. “It had been on the market six months when I went there for dinner one night. I said, ‘One reason it’s not selling is all this junk you’ve got in here. Since you’re moving anyway, let’s pack it up.’ ”
Wiedenbeck and his host immediately began moving--and removing--furnishings. “That’s the secret--taking stuff away. Never overdo a room,” he said.
To simplify the presentation, he went through every room to select its greatest asset. Leaving “one great thing” in each room, Wiedenbeck made the small house seemed more spacious and inviting.
“The minute that happened, people started to get interested, and the house sold in four weeks,” he said.
Wiedenbeck is among a growing number of Orange County interior designers who have added resale marketing to their repertoire of home decorating services. Professional designers can suggest touches that will reap extra sales dollars, he said. In the current soft housing market, interior design help may provide the crucial edge that gets the house moving.
“You really do need to market your home,” said Bonnie Randall, an agent with Star Real Estate in Huntington Beach. She said that the houses that sold within a week last year now may take three or four months and that those in the $300,000-to-$500,000 range are fast glutting the market. Prices not only have stopped escalating at 1988’s dizzying rate, but they’re beginning to decline in some areas. What’s more, buyers are increasingly sophisticated, and expect resale homes to be in move-in condition.
But “move-in” doesn’t mean “lived-in,” she pointed out. “The way we live isn’t the way to show a house for sale.”
Prospective buyers have a hard time imagining how the house would look filled with their personal collections or decorated in their favorite colors. Homeowners, then, need to cast a critical eye on their property and make changes that will help buyers envision living there. Sometimes that requires extensive remodeling; often a little paint and some potted petunias will do the trick.
Sometimes a designer’s advice is needed. Professionals charge between $300 and $500, with fees negotiated by the hour or on a flat rate, for consulting on a resale design. But, designers point out, that’s affordable when you’re selling a house for $300,000 or more. If it speeds up the sale of the house and gets the price you want, it’s money well spent, designers said.
“If you haven’t done anything in your 20 years and are faced with a loss of between $35,000 and $40,000, then it’s worth it to invest $15,000 to $20,000 to get it ready to sell,” said Huntington Beach interior designer Elaine Hankin. “And $5,000 is a minimum unless your house is in really terrific shape.”
Hankin is also a licensed general contractor, but in most cases, she concedes, “the things we do are very cosmetic. They’re things you don’t notice, but you’d notice if they weren’t done.”
Sparkling windows, drip-free faucets and brand-new lamp shades, for instance, probably won’t catch a buyer’s attention. But their absence sends a strong signal of neglect.
To present a well-maintained appearance, Hankin recommends new bathroom mirrors and plumbing fixtures. “Plumbing fixtures take a beating in this area, and they’re not that expensive to replace,” she said. You also may need to refinish cabinets or replace a cultured-marble vanity.
For a fast face-lift, bring in fresh flowers (keep annuals growing near the entrance, too) and spruce up a dead-looking sofa with colorful pillows.
Paint and carpeting in neutral colors create a sense of space that flows, Hankin said, and lighter colors continue to sell better. “California is a desert, and people are not used to deep colors as you’d see in the East,” she claimed.
Whether the home’s decor is country, Southwestern or neoclassical, its chief components are light, air and space. In Southern California, less is definitely more, and clutter is definitely out. The very touches that make your house comfortable--the kitchen appliances within easy reach on the countertop, children’s art and family notes stuck to the refrigerator door, the careless pile of magazines on the coffee table and the handy basket by the phone where you stash pens and paper clips--may also make it harder to sell.
“What we’re selling here is charm, not the lived-in look,” White explained. “Remember, we’re not decorating, we’re merchandising.”
That means marketing for the general public, as in a model home, said Huntington Beach interior designer Lana Barth. It also means playing it very safe.
“Think of the IBM salesman of the 1960s in his white shirt and wing tips,” she said. “The idea is to stay neutral and non-offensive.”
Barth recommends using one color (preferably off-white) throughout the house, avoiding dramatic decorating schemes and strong colors. She also suggests paying close attention to detail. A well-polished front-door fixture and attractive mailbox are very important, she said. Install new light fixtures in the bathroom, perhaps even new light plates as well. And check all of the screens: “Crummy screens detract from the overall appearance.”
Above all, she said, “keep it clean. With today’s two wage-earner families, (buyers) don’t want to put a lot of work into a new house.”
Barth also advises allowing plenty of time to get your house ready for sale. “Starting early saves a lot of money because there are things you can do yourself, whereas if you wait till the last minute, you’re really at the mercy of laborers and contractors.”
While one client is taking plenty of time to remodel--and enjoy--her North County home after 28 years of neglect, Barth acknowledged that newer south county homes may not need much work.
“It depends on how fast you want to get out of it. People planning to sell in the spring are getting ready now,” she said.
