5 things women over 50 wish they knew before selling their home

if you are a woman over 50
and thinking about selling your house
these are five things that
someone may not have warned you about
and they can make or break your sale
so before you pack a box let’s watch this video
hey there home sellers
welcome back my name is Kasha and I’m a home stager
and in today’s episode and from now on
I’m gonna be concentrating on helping women in the
over 50 years old maybe those of you in your 40s
who just don’t have that designer’s eye and wonder
well I’ve heard about home staging
but what do I really need to do about it
well in this episode
we’re talking about
five things that women over 50 wish they knew
before they sold their house
now it’s staging maybe something new
maybe something you’ve heard of it
but you’re just kind of like Kasha
I don’t know what it is that I need to do
can you please help me yes
I would love to help you out with that
you’re selling your house
because you’re transitioning into a different
part of your life right
maybe you’re downsizing
maybe you’re moving closer to family
maybe you’re an empty nester at this point
um and you’re just
maybe there’s a divorce a retirement
something and you just have to sell your house right
so these are things that someone wishes
that I would have told
other clients that I’ve had who are over the 50s
and kind of just wondering
what do I do
so that’s what we’re gonna focus on in this episode
so the first thing that you kind of have to consider
is that it’s more emotional than you expect
and you’re probably thinking
well yeah
I probably lived in this house for X amount of years
maybe you lived in it 10 15
20 years and you’re now looking around going
oh wow what do I do
where do I even get started
and it’s emotional
letting go of a home is a very emotional thing
and it’s hard but it’s normal OK
and that’s what I wanna share with you in this episode
because
you may be having to think about
you know
selling the home because you’ve lost a loved one
and you can’t maintain the home any longer
maybe it’s just too big for you
and you just don’t want all this space OK
and your identity is tied to the home
maybe you’ve had great big parties here
or just the way you’ve decorated it
it’s just reflects your personal style
but we’re gonna when it comes to staging
you’re gonna have to depersonalize a couple things
and that’s where you need to get started
so in this case
what I would recommend is maybe start staging
or trying to cleaning up
rooms that are less emotionally tied to you
like maybe a guest room or well
maybe the garage that’s kind of a hard tackle
that kind of kind of big but pick a room
maybe a laundry room
that’s something that’s less emotionally attached to
maybe why you’re moving okay
so just be aware that when you’re staging your house
you’re probably looking around going
but but
but these are things that I love and see and I know
but when it comes time to selling your house
you’re gonna have to think about it in the way that
this is no longer your home
this is gonna be somebody else’s home
and they’re gonna love it just as much as you did
No.2 is that clutter can kill your sale
and you’re probably looking around going
well
yeah but what is clutter
and and that’s kind of a
a thing that I have to define for you
because you may not realize it um
because buyers need to see the space
not your stuff okay
and even if your things are of high quality
maybe you have this
beautiful vase that you got in these travels
or this picturesque you know
artwork or something like that behind me or well
that’s not high quality but you know what I mean
if you have a high quality piece of artwork or rug
maybe even I mean any of those types of things
those types of things you kind of have to look at
and look with the critical eye
I’m not saying remove everything
but there may be certain things like maybe you
have a collection of some cuckoo clocks
or something like that yeah
those are expensive I know
but we’re not gonna be showing those off
when it comes time to staging your house
so we gotta talk about visual clutter
because it overwhelms buyers
when you visually
when you see a collection of plates or tea cups
or dolls or cuckoo clocks
whatever it may be that is just clutter
and you need to just remove it and pack it away
if that is something that you know
you’re gonna be taking with you to your next house
but it visually just clutters up the space
we need to start taking that down
start packing it up putting it away and remove that
because that just hinders the buyers okay
they’re just gonna visually see
oh there’s a lot of stuff in here
grandma lives in here
which I know some of you in 50s and 60s are going
but I’m not a grandma okay
but you’re not the modern person maybe
I know I’m probably
I’m not trying to hurt your feelings
I’m really not
but I know I have old fashioned type things too
that my kids are like yeah
I’d never want that you know
so there may be something that maybe your kit
older kids want
or maybe you’ve packed away thinking they do want it
ask them before you pack it up
and think that you can give it to them
really seriously you do need to consider that okay
so I know I had a certain things that my mom
and thinking that I wanted
I’m looking at it going I have no room No. 1 and No. 2
it doesn’t go with my style of my decorating sense
and No. 3 it’s just I don’t want it
you know it doesn’t do anything for me now again
some of your clutter you may not think of as clutter
okay it’s just
maybe just too much of one thing or a couple of things
right so
let’s start with maybe a collection of like plates or
or China or something like that right
maybe it’s um just nothing your your kids want right
but somebody else would love
so if you’re gonna do an estate sale
maybe you’re gonna do a garage sale
maybe you’re gonna um send you know
donate it or uh consign it that’s possible thing too
but don’t take it with you if you know
you’re gonna be downsizing anyway
and you can’t fit it in your new home okay
maybe you’re going downsizing to a condo yeah
that China plate collection of whatever it is
it’s probably not gonna make it
and it’s just visually when you give it away to some
or give it to somebody else
I’m not saying give it away
give it to somebody else that’s gonna love it
it’ll make you feel better
kind of part of the emotional part thing that I just
talked about in the first one
it’s gonna be very emotional
but when we’re decluttering
that’s what we need to do okay
you wanna start decluttering
before you’re just emotionally drained from moving okay
so start now so maybe you’re not selling your house now
maybe you’re selling it six months from now
start right now start doing these taking the steps
look around each room
and if you need something to help you get started
I do have a free guide called
how to start staging your house now
and in there I talk about tips on home improvements
how to influence buyers
I even have some staging tips in there as well
but decluttering is one of those things
that you really need to look at
and go with a critical eye
and go do I really need that
have I used that in the past six months
probably not it’s just there collecting dust yeah
number three
DIY staging does work if you know where to focus
and that’s where my guide comes in
so download this free
how to start staging your house now um
I do have that free guide
but I also have a free um
another video
where I talk about the 4 most important rooms to stage
now maybe you’re not there yet
but I’m gonna put the link in here
so that you can take a look at it
watch that video maybe after this one um
to help you with
the four most important rooms to stage
because that’s where you wanna focus your efforts on
okay
you don’t have to hire a designer to get results okay
you can watch some of my videos
maybe you just need help with one room okay
start with my free guide
that’s always a great place to start
but you want to focus on a few key areas
you definitely want to take a look at your curb appeal
okay you want to look at the entryway
that’s where the people are going to be coming in
they’re not going to be coming in through the garage
like you do because you maybe park in the garage
and then you walk in through the laundry room
and into the kitchen and then you’re like
oh well yeah they don’t come that way
they come through the front door
which may need some help um again
I talk about curb appeal in my videos as well
that’s another video you can check out um
but that is an important thing
that’s what buyers see from the outside because again
if you are not taking care of the outside
buyers will think well
if they can’t even just cut the grass out front
what are they not doing on the inside
and again it’s just that that and presence
that idea that gets lodged in their brain like okay
well outside doesn’t look so great
so the inside may not look so great either okay
that’s the perception
we don’t want to give them that perception okay
so you wanna use neutral accessories
remove overly personalized decor
I always tell my clients
start removing all your family photos
now I know you’re probably thinking
oh my God but that’s my lifeline
I wanna see pictures of my grandkids or the family
or the extended family that you have
that’s great for you
but we’re talking about the buyers
who are coming through your house
they don’t wanna see that
now I know I’m gonna get some buyers saying
but I do wanna see who lives here yeah
that’s very rare it is um
so just start taking those overly personal things
like that collection of plates or the cuckoo clocks
or the whatever collection that you have
cause I know you probably have some
you probably gotten things from maybe your parents
and you’ve held on to it and you’re like
well I could use this but yeah
you probably didn’t yeah no
I know so DIY staging does work
you can start on that now
you download my free guide and you can get started okay
No.4 buyers notice when you stop noticing
now what do I mean by that
now when you’re looking around your house
you kind of have blinders up
because there are things that are out there
in the house like stacks of paper or maybe um
what is you know
some things that you kind of put in the corner like oh
I’ll get to that eventually and you haven’t
it’s become part of your everyday life
and you don’t realize that it’s there
until someone points it out and says
that we need to take that stuff
care of that stuff in the corner over there
what’s that you know
maybe it’s a pile of paperwork maybe it’s
you know things that you were starting
maybe it’s a craft or something like that well
now this time to ditch it
pitch it donate it
something yeah decide what needs to happen
and that’s part of the decluttering okay
so some of the things that may be kind of your blind
spots okay
maybe odors
maybe you don’t realize that there’s a smell uh
maybe you have pets in the house okay
maybe you have overly perfumed candles
all right um
maybe you have some outdated fixtures
cause you’ve lived in the house for 10 15
20 years and some of those things have been outdated
yeah yeah
or maybe your paint
just needs some touch up on the walls or
you know maybe it’s just the wrong color
it’s faded over time okay
so those are the type what I mean by
you know blind when you stop noticing things
you don’t realize that oh
well that that probably needs to change
that needs to go
so take a look around either ask a friend or a stager
I do offer consultations where I can go
talk about okay well
you need to think about upgrading this
or changing this out whatever it may be
because it you don’t want your house to be looked at
and they will people
buyers will look at it with a critical eye
cause they’ll look around going okay
I need to update in here
and this is gonna cost me X amount of dollars
and they’re gonna say
well that’s gonna cost me a hundred bucks here
another hundred bucks there blah
blah blah
so that means they’re gonna reduce their price
on the offer of your home
you don’t want them to do that
you want them to walk in and go
oh wow everything’s pretty much done
other than obviously the decor
they’re gonna make it to their own taste
that’s perfectly fine but you want them to think
oh well yeah I could just move right on in
that’s what you want them to do okay
so take a look at that all right
and the last tip I have for you is basically
a little prep now is equals a big payoff later
now what I mean by that is
like I said staged homes
they sell faster than non staged homes
if you take a look online right now
you will probably see some houses that look
like I said move in ready now
those are the ones that are gonna fetch a higher price
maybe even at asking price
but then you probably
noticed a couple of homes that may not look so great
maybe they’re just a lot of clutter
a lot of old fashioned things
and that’s when the buyers are gonna look around
they’re gonna see
they’re gonna compare the two and realize
oh well
this one’s moving ready at this price and this one
same similar style or whatever
but I need to change the paint
I need to change out the fixtures
I need to do all this I gotta put some more money in
we’re gonna have a lesser cost
which one are they gonna pick
now
I know with the real estate market in 2025 right now
things have slowed down a lot for sellers
homes are taking longer to sell right
I’ve even seen that
buyers are even ghosting on some of the sellers
which is a crazy thing right there
too scary but it happens
but just be aware
that when you make the effort to change a few things
like I mentioned the clutter
the paint the decor
you know the outdated fixtures
those types of things
things like delaying fixing a broken handle
maybe
there’s a handle that’s missing on one of the cabinets
okay
it can slow down the sale later okay
so and you may not think it matters because like
oh well the buyer’s gonna change it anyway
they’re gonna change the color to something else
why should I even bother
again just like I was talking about
they’re gonna be making a check
a list of this needs to be fixed
this needs to be so done
this needs to be changed blah blah blah again
they’re gonna offer
less for your home than what it’s listed at
and more than probably less than what you want okay
and they may even
overestimate what they think it takes to
you know paint a room yeah
and that’s what that’s gonna reflect in their offer
okay
take the time right now
to start with downloading my free guide
how to start staging now
so that you can at least start a plan of action
so that you can work on well
I need to work on this room
I need to do this
let me start doing this and as you do this
because it’s not something that you can attack
all in one day
I don’t recommend doing that me as a stager
I will take a day or two
depending on who when my clients
when I work with them
that I can maximize and move everything
and change things for them
there may be a couple things we do later
but please don’t attack this in one day
you’re gonna be exhausted okay
a little bit at a time each day is perfectly fine
especially when you know you’re not selling right away
okay but you can also contact me for you know
a consultation any go over any priority areas alright
in the end there
are five things that I wanna cover with you
that I hopefully explained a little bit better on
things that might you know
put you off may not realize oh
I need to think about the
these things when I’m selling my house okay
and we talked about it’s more emotional than you think
there is clutter that can kill the sale
DIY staging does work
you just gotta focus on the right rooms
buyers notice when you stop
noticing things like outdated fixtures and things
and a little prep now equals a big payoff later
so if that’s something you need help with
I would love to help you like I said
download my free guide to get you get started
because it does take time
it’s not something that can happen overnight
not like those HTV t shows that show you oh
well they got this done in like a day or two no
please be realistic take the time yourself
to do what it needs to take
to get your house ready to sell
and if you have any questions
please leave a comment below
I’d love to hear from you
if maybe you’re kind of wondering well
should I worry about this should I worry about that
I get those all the time so that is not a problem
but I’d love for you to subscribe to this channel
so that you can see more videos
that might help you in your endeavor to get your house
sold faster so alright
I hope you guys have a fantastic week
and I’ll talk to you later bye

​