Getting Ready to Close - The Cleanout

It's a good week this week....two possible purchases for my buyers, two listings closing, one buyer closing...Lots of last minute details to be worked out.

Some people think that real estate is just showing houses, writing offers, and then picking up the commission check at closing.  Heck!  Getting the check in the mail is more normal these days.  I go to my buyers' closings; it's a big day, and I want to be there to celebrate with them.  One of my favorite closings years ago was at Solvay Bank (where I am coincidentally heading tomorrow.)  The buyer brought in a case of champagne and gave out bottles to everyone, including any staff who happened to be there.  Memorable.

But as my 9th grade social studies teacher used to say....."Into each life some rain must fall..."  Yesterday I sat in an ice storm on the phone for an hour, sorting things out.  Central New York's version of "some rain." One of my listings had not been cleaned out as purely as the buyer's agent wanted.  Admittedly there was a breakdown in communication, but what should have been a joyous occasion was being turned into a stressful series of events.  Maybe I can prevent someone else having to go through that with this blog.

When you clean out, take everything.  Don't think that the rolled up wallpaper for the den will be what anyone wants.  The paint that touches up the bathroom is not wanted.  The cans of food need to be donated if the expiration date hasn't occurred.  Garbage anywhere goes.  Look for it.  It can hide in plain sight.

A rule of thumb....Buyers look at everything, and if they want anything that isn't nailed down they will ask at some point.  Otherwise they really don't care.  Get it gone.  Yes, that concrete block is handy, as are the bricks that could be decorative in a garden.  Wooden pallets help a lot.  But if the buyer doesn't ask for these items, get them gone.

How?  Contact one of the many companies online that will take your junk.  I had a gentleman a few years ago who came and cleared out a basement in a couple hours - and charged $150.  That cleanout would have taken three people days.  He didn't look at things - he just took them.

And don't forget that things need to be cleaned, too.  The fridge, the oven, the toilets....while not listed in the contract it is very helpful to create a good sense of welcome.  (You may even get away with a concrete block or two if the house is clean.  But don't bank on it.)  The standard is "broom clean."  The house that needed more things out yesterday had been swept of cobwebs in the basement.  I rarely hear that!  Still, the paint had to go.

Try to be done a couple days early so the house can be checked by the listing agent.  In some cases that's hard to do, being done early.  And some people work better with crunch time.  But if it's finished early then it reduces the stress, if nothing else.  Allow way more time than you think you'll need...because you will need it.

Of course the time will come when something "of value" is tossed.  But if it were that valuable, then it would have been noted, I have to believe.

Trust me - you don't want 24 pictures of left behind stuff appearing the night before closing in your e-mail. There's always that temptation to say "It will take a couple days to rectify this."  The buyer has moving trucks on the way, the lock on the rate expires....everyone gets upset.  And what goes around comes around.  So I get it done - some way, some how, before closing, too.  Ah, the easy life of the Realtor!