House Modeling

I had 30 days to buy my condo. I think I did a pretty good job. Its a 777 sq feet rowhouse but its a nice place. Its a 1 bath two bedroom place with what looks like granite countertops and cherry hardwood floors throughout. Its on a nice street with lots of trees and within walking distance to a grocery store, restaurants and coffee shops. Its also a 10 minute walk to the T (subway) and there is parking on the street. We are on the second floor with one unit below and one above us. There is also a great roofdeck with a grill and a view of the city. In the summer you can see the fireworks on the 4th of July from the Charles River.

I walked into this place when we were looking and it felt like home. Everyone felt that way. Pretty sure my mom started praying that we could get this place.

I also knew it would be an easy place to sell again. That was one of the qualifiers. Since we move every couple of years it needed to be sellable with little to no improvements needed.

Since we moved in I had a walk in closet installed in the 8x10 room off the side of the second bedroom/office in the front. The walk in closet is not a common feature and I didnt see a single one in the 30+ condos I looked at in the city. Nice selling point right? I also painted the front room to a neutral color. It was a light green before - not a fan. I also bought a new kitchen fan (the other one actually broke) but it makes a big difference. I was watching HGTV today and thinking about how I would model my house when I go to sell and have an open house. Here are the things I would do.

1. remove the coffee table - dog ate it. Not good
2. remove the livingroom rug & polish all of the hardwood floors to a shine
3. remove all of the dogs stuff and clean out the closet so you can actually see the potential
4. remove the papasan
5. remove all pictures hanging on the exposed brick
6. plant some nice flowers in the outside pot on the sidewalk. Place more flowers on the steps of the lobby
7. remove the stuff from the closets to show that our clothes arent cramped in there
8. remove the couch from the office to make that room look larger
9. remove everything from the countertops to make the kitchen look larger
10. remove the coat rack - makes it cramped when you walk in

Those are my ideas. What do you think?

I remember looking at other condos and thinking that I'd like to see the closet without so many clothes and i kept thinking - will my stuff fit if theirs cant? So many people left their places so cramped and filled with their own personality. From watching HGTV i believe the best bet is to make it neutral enough that everyone else can imagine their own personality in the condo. We have a couple of years still but everything I do I always think about what that means for us and selling this place again.