The number of senior citizens trying to sell homes is growing. As our parents and grandparents reach the “golden years,” it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to live unassisted. Rising co-pays and health care costs combined with decreases in retiree pension benefits are draining this generation’s bank accounts at an alarming rate. Health issues can emerge requiring the person to move to a nursing home, assisted living facility or a family member’s home. Or, perhaps the homeowner longs to reside in a maintenance-free senior community with social activities, spas and gourmet meals. Ernie Harwell sure makes it sound appealing his TV commercials! I am, in fact, counting the days until I can move in.
Any of these scenarios can force the sale of the senior’s home.
Selling the home of a senior citizen requires a gentle touch. They may have raised their children there and have a strong emotional attachment to the home’s memories. If they haven’t sold a home in many years, they may feel anxious and uncertain about the selling process. And, unless they’re itching to be Ernie’s neighbor, they may not really want to leave their home.
Preparing the home for sale is even trickier. It’s quite difficult to tell someone of advancing age that they must pack away all of their family photos, fine china and handprint plaques made by the grandchildren. We are asking them to remove all traces of their memories from view. As the home stager, I know this is absolutely essential for a quick sale. As the daughter of two 80-somethings, I know this to be excruciating for the seller.
Home staging is still a new concept for many, and seniors are no exception. As senior citizens tend to be a little less accepting of new ideas, it’s an even harder sell. Unless they are lucky enough to be able to take some of their furniture to their new residences, asking them to remove certain pieces from a room is usually met with resistance. The stager needs to be persuasive, in a “Mrs. Jones, no one likes needles, but you need your medicine” sort of way.
Compliance is easier when they accept the notion that their home is no longer their home…it is now a HOUSE for sale. To sell a HOUSE, it must be clean, uncluttered and depersonalized. When buyers are not distracted by the seller’s personal belongings, they can focus on the property itself. This is the main goal of home staging.
“House” and “Home” are two very different concepts. To illustrate this distinction to seniors, it can be helpful to alter a few familiar sayings: “House Sweet House”. “House is where the heart is”. “There’s no place like house”. “Who says you can’t go house?” (think Jon Bon Jovi’s latest tune). I agree, it sounds silly, but it works! Seniors “get it”, and trust the advice given to them by the real estate agent or home stager.
Regardless of age, when homeowners “get it”, good things happen….houses show better and sell faster.
Written by Marianne Sweet
Home Sweet Home Staging, (586) 212-8400
Visit Website
Search for homes in Oakland County
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Heather Durren 02.25.08 at 2:57 pm
This is so true, helping seniors prepare to move can be very daunting.It takes a gentle touch and an understanding heart.
Rachel - www.stagedmakeovers.com 02.25.08 at 7:36 pm
I agree with both you and Heather. It is not easy for seniors to move. I helped my grandparents move out of their house of over 30 years and relocate out of state. Not easy! Thanks for the advice. Please check out my blog http://www.mystagedlife.com for posts on relocating seniors and the booming industry that focuses on senior moving services.
Georgia Fishing Vacations 02.28.08 at 2:05 pm
Good point! You are correct and if they have come thru the depression it’s even harder for them to declutter.
My grandpartents had a very tidy home but packed. When my grandfather died and grandmother remained there as long as she could. Finally she agreed to move with family.
The decluttering began she had every newspaper in trunks since the start of the town paper over 75 years worth. We donated it to the paper as an archieve and they were thrilled. She saved every button and zipper on every article of clothing in her life. Actually some of the old buttons from the 40′s were cool.
Family members one by one came and collected many different things and off she went to Florida with a car load of treasures to decorate her room.
It took several weeks of all day sorting to accomplish the declutter everynight people were pulling up and going thru a wall of trash at the curb looking for a treasure we might have thrown out was really kinda annoying.
The funniest one was the neighbor said she saw each of the grandchildren came and took some of the lilac bushes home. My grandfather had the pretiest yard lilacs, magnolia, azalia, hydrangia’s.
So it was hard for everyone when she left not just Nanna! Moving someone who is elderly is difficult because so many memories for so many especially if they have always lived there.
Florida Luxury Homes For Sale 02.29.08 at 2:49 pm
A house is a building but a home is how the people live, love, grow and enjoy life it.
Preparing a home to be sold by removing all the items one accumulates in a life time can be hard but necessary. I like the way you thought of this very true and it is what we do to sell homes.
Marianne Sweet 03.03.08 at 7:58 am
I’ve worked on several estates over the last few months. I’ve been called in to help sort through the deceased owner’s belongings because no family members have been able or willing to do so. It’s very sad to see a person’s treasures sold at an estate sale or tossed to the curb because no one else wanted their “junk”. It’s fascinating to see what some people hold on to and consider precious. I learn a lot about the person in the short time I’m in their house, and most times I’ve wished that I had known them when they were alive. But, the work of de-cluttering and staging must be done. When the sign goes up, it’s a totally different property.
Karen Goodman 03.09.08 at 11:51 pm
You make a great point, and I ran across this post just at the perfect time (a few days ago). I ended up in a conversation this weekend with the owner of one of my listings. She kept talking about how all the buyers and agents leaving feedback that the house is overpriced are just wrong. She was talking about all of the projects they did, all the work and money and how they just LOVE their home. She told me that it’s a GREAT home and somebody with taste will find it and buy it.
Of course, they have already moved out of town and the house has been sitting vacant for a few months now. I followed your lead and reminded her that to her it is her ‘Home’…the place where she had her babies and started her family, but to buyers…it’s just a ‘House’. They are buying a product, and have no emotional attachment to it. She finally heard what I was saying. She still hasn’t agreed to drop the price, but finally stopped talking and started listening, and I think she got the point. I think it will take another 3 or 4 weeks, but eventually she’ll come around.
Thanks for the great tip on an effective way to present this concept to unrealistic sellers.
Marianne Sweet 03.11.08 at 9:58 am
Karen, I’m glad I could give you some ammunition to use with your difficult seller. I hope she’s able to grasp the concept that her home is a product on the market now and must be marketed as such.
I have to ask…….have you considered having the house staged? It will cost less than a price reduction and can help buyers see how good the house could look, rather than allowing them to focus on the present decor and flaws. When a house is vacant, it’s downfalls are magnified.
Karen Goodman 03.11.08 at 10:25 am
I don’t think staging will really help with this house. It actually shows pretty well in the majority of the rooms. The biggest problem is the kitchen floor which has a bad pergo job. The flooring was cut unevenly and has a couple of inches gap in front of the dishwasher. They also have crazy paint colors in about 50% of the house and a bad yard (small corner lot of a fairly busy main subdivision street). Since staging might help, but might not, I would rather get them to reduce the price than spend money that you can’t get back.
I do think that staging can help many homes, but the spaces that don’t show well in this house wouldn’t get much of an impact from staging. If I can just get them to drop their price from $242,900 to $237,900, I think it will make a big difference. We’re probably about 3 weeks away from them getting realistic. We were there a couple of weeks ago, then we had a rush of showings and a lowball offer. My interpretation of that activity is that all the people that saw the house and walked away combined with a person that thought it was worth much less would tell me I’m priced too high. They choose to interpret it differently, and feel that the increase in traffic will eventually result in the one person that ‘has taste’. She already told me that come April 1 she’ll be ready to drop the price and she agreed to a carpet allowance for the upstairs bedrooms. I’m whittling them down slowly.
I wouldn’t hesitate to use staging in a vacant house that has a challenging floor plan. Most buyers don’t have vision, and helping them see how furniture could fit and how it could look young & trendy with some accessories is well worth the money for those homes.
Marianne Sweet 03.15.08 at 7:09 am
This listing does sound a bit challenging. It sounds like you’re making great progress with them though. I hope they follow your advice and it all works out well.
“I wouldn’t hesitate to use staging in a vacant house that has a challenging floor plan. Most buyers don’t have vision, and helping them see how furniture could fit and how it could look young & trendy with some accessories is well worth the money for those homes.”………..YES!!! That’s music to a stager’s ears!
Best of luck to you!