Suburban Wolf, Real Estate Agent

OK, so we’re taking the plunge and we’re going to sell the place ourselves. No agent, no one to blame other than myself if this doesn’t work.

Step 1: My wife re-did the master bathroom this weekend. It used to be kind of dull gray. Now it’s a light green, which is a much brighter, more cheerful color and I think it actually makes the room look bigger. There’s also a coordinating shower curtain, bath mat and towels.

Step 2: The carpet in the downstairs of our house is impossible to keep clean. We don’t have a proper foyer” when you come into the house and basically, you can’t help but drag all kinds of crap into the house with you and it all ends up right in the carpet. So, we’re ripping it out in the living room, dining room and kitchen and installing a contemporary-looking laminate hardwood floor. We bought the material this weekend and installation will likely happen sometime this week.

Step 3: We’re changing out all our light bulbs with those GE Reveal light bulbs. It really affects the way colors look in your house. Totally gets rid of the yellow glow and makes everything look more appealing.

Step 4: List. Still deciding whether to do the online option or the half-service agency. I’m going to do some more research over the next week though and make a choice. Either way though, the only commission I have to pay is to the buyer’s agent. That means that I have some extra cash to play with in negotiation. I may even offer a higher commission for the buyer’s agent as an incentive to get them to work for me a little.

Step 5: Marketing. I’m going to put together a little system for myself to manage leads and make sure that I don’t lose touch with people. I’ll also do some kind of flyer and possibly create some other communication tool if it makes sense.

Step 6: Sell this place and move to that elusive house that we’ve been chasing for the last five months since we decided to sell.

The quest is on. More details to follow.

-E.