Selling a Big House to Move into a Shoebox

I had my appointment with the realtor or rather I should say realtors. It was a tag team of two women who work together. Smart idea for women working in that field. They walked through the house, the yard, the basement and I even showed them my embarrassingly messy e-Bay Central in the garage. I was anxious to see if one of their suggestions to improve a showing included taking down the grab bars in the bathrooms but I was prepared for that. I had typed out a list of the not-so-obvious wheelchair friendly features of the house with the suggestion the place be marketed that way. The List: 

- One of the garage doors is higher than normal to fit a pop-up van

- Garage is deep enough and wide enough so you can lower a ramp off the back or side of a van with the garage door closed

- Garage has a charging station for an electric wheelchair with a grab bar for transfers to a manual chair

- All doorways are all 3 foot wide

- Hallway is five foot wide

- Bathrooms both have the required 5 foot turn radius in the center for a wheelchair

- One bath is set up for a right side disability, one is set up for a left side disability

- Both baths have the required ADA grab bars

- Both bath sinks can be rolled up to and under

- Kitchen has a prep area for wheelchair user

- Kitchen sink doors open with no center post so a wheelchair can pull up and under

- Refrigerator is a side-by-side for the best access from a chair

- Front door has a key pad for access if you have caregivers coming in (change caregivers, change the code)

- Zero steps entry

- Staircase to basement is extra wide to accommodate a stair lift incliner

- Electrical service box is in garage instead of basement (permitted by inspector for ADA houses)

- All light bulbs in ceiling fixtures can be changed with a long-handled light bulb changer & no ladder

- Front loading, raised washer and dryer for a wheelchair user (goes with the house)

- Lower than normal windows so a person in a wheelchair gets a better view

- Circular traffic flow in kitchen, dining and living room so a person in wheelchair can’t trap others

Do you know that feeling when you think you’ve found just the right person to do a business transaction with? Well it happened to me today. I was so impressed by the tag team! They were here for an hour- and-a-half and we talked about things like getting a home equality loan to act like a bridge, if needed to pay the CCC before my house sells. We talked about timing the listing and marketing the house and they seemed pleased to get my list above and one said, “This house is marketable to EVERYONE which is a real plus.” They liked the airiness and light (which I will miss when I move) and how pleasant and private my yard and deck are and how my basement with the daylight window could be finished off with more bedrooms. We talked about how the garage is a guy magnet with its 821 square feet, vaulted ceiling, tall door, bright lights and row of lockable steel cabinets. We talked about resources for selling this, that and the other thing. 

We also talked about how the last realtor I dealt with pulled something she would have lost her license for if I had taken it to the real estate board. One of these ladies serves on that board and they both assured me that because I’m sensitive about a legality being skipped that caused a lot of extra stress and lost time they will show me every bit of paperwork, as it’s generated so I can see with my own eyes that what I’m being told jives with what actually happened.

The tag team specializes in working with seniors who are getting ready to go into places like the CCC I’ve made a payment on. One of the women is on the board of the county’s Commission on Age and a bunch of other do-good organizations that deal with senior issues. Caring about older people is embedded deeply into these women's personalities. And they said the way I have house arranged we won’t need a stager. Decluttering collectibles that could distract buyers, yes, but I already knew that and I told them that before they could mention it. They are going to call me once a month until we get closer to knowing my potential move-in date to make sure I’m on track with things like I promised by fall my basement and garage would be down to just the bare, necessary things for living here. But as far as maintenance on the house they said ‘no’ to re-roofing and ‘yes’ to staining my deck, which I’ve already lined someone up to do. They don’t see any major issues. As for having all the original AC, furnace and kitchen appliances---if asked to buy new as part of an offer, we can counter offer to buy a warranty for two years at $500 and, yes, they do sell them on things that will be 17 year old when I move. If they fail within two years they get replacements for free from the warranty company. That was just one of the ways to handle that situation but it's all my decision at the time an offer comes in. All and all I was pleased with the way things went. More than pleased.

Next time I’ll write about the appointment with the downsizing specialist happening tomorrow. I don’t expect that to go as well. I image Marie Kondo in her little white sweater telling me to thank this or that and throw it in the trash. ©