Can you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your background? What motivated you to sell your home as first time sellers?

“We’re Carly and Kevin Means (and our dog Lucy!) We decided to sell our house because, well, we moved in about a dozen years ago and it was just the two of us – and not even Lucy was involved – but had three kids and the house got a little tight. The walls kept creeping in and we accumulated a lot of stuff for the kids and decided well, it's time to have an extra bathroom and an extra garage space and a few other extras.”

“So it was a good time, the right time for us to make the next move. I think more importantly, we already fell in love with this neighborhood. You know, we could have stayed in this house forever and made it work, but priorities change and we're always keeping our eyes open in the neighborhood to see if something popped up that might be a better fit (right off the bat without having to do so much work).”

“But we are sad to leave this house. We got married in the backyard! Like Kevin said, we had all three kids here. We're super excited to be staying in the neighborhood! Honestly, we probably wouldn't have left had we not found a house close by. I think we went back and forth a lot about if we want to sell our home, if we want to stay. Because like I said, we love this house, but it feels a little tight at the moment. It was really emotional and I went back and forth a lot.”

What were your initial thoughts and feelings about selling your home?

“There are nerves about the work that goes into it. I mean there's the emotional connection too. Obviously getting married here, having kids here, a lot of life experiences here. A lot of remodeling and a lot of work, a lot of money also dropped into it. No doubt about it but it was certainly the right time for us and the right decision. The trepidation about the work and the time that we would have to put into it was nerve-racking a bit."

“Fortunately, we found a nice group to work with to help alleviate some of those concerns. You always have that fear of the grass is greener kind of effect. But I think we have learned through this process that no matter how emotional it feels, because you've put so much into this house, you can bring all that. You're gonna bring your family. You're gonna bring all the important things to the next place. And so it's just a new adventure."

Were you nervous or concerned about anything in the process?

“Oh for sure. For me especially, and I’m sure for the vast majority of people out there who are building a new home, it’s the largest purchase you’ll ever make in your life. That’s definitely a little nerve wracking. Thankfully this will be my second real estate purchase. I bought the condo that I’m in right now about five and a half years ago. I kind of have an idea of the process but this is my first build which is definitely a different animal. I had some ideas but definitely a lot of new things that came about." 

How did you prepare your home for sale?

“We took priority over the things we needed to keep in the home to maintain a normal lifestyle with three kids. It was a good opportunity to organize and move some things out. We were able to kind of purge a lot of the things that maybe we won't end up needing in the next home. So it was a good opportunity for organizing. But it's a matter of finding those things that you need, minimizing what the house needs and making it clean, decluttered.”

“I know we appreciated it after we thought, boy, maybe we won't even end up selling. It's like, oh, I wanted my house to look like this the whole time, but that isn't real life. But  it's kind of the Instagram reality versus what's behind the camera. But I think we all need an excuse to do that, right? It's like, oh, you could do this all the time, but you have other priorities in life.”

“And I think what was really helpful is Matt's team did actually offer us the services of a stager, which was super helpful. So Matt's team offered us the services of a stager and she honestly was amazing. And I felt like we had done a lot. We honestly just started with – what can we get rid of? What do we not need right now? It's going to be summer, we probably don't need our winter stuff (although it was still spring, we did have to take some of that back out, but that's fine). So we were fortunate enough to have family in the area that would take some of the stuff where you can put it in a garage or  in bins.

“I think the stager was really helpful for me, helping me make decisions. I think that that can make a really big impact when you're looking online in a house. Not everyone has the same style, but I think she was good at just like knowing what we needed, what we didn't, and that was super helpful.”

“Making the house applicable for everybody, right? Obviously a lot of different buyers are potentially coming through, looking at it online, and making the house look like anyone can live there, whatever their lifestyle – however many kids, no kids, whatever the case may be. The stager was extremely helpful in getting it to a point where we thought it was tip-top shaped to sell.”

What qualities or credentials were most important to you in selecting an agent?

“You know, not knowing Matt previously, the recommendation of friends – his friends, our friends, mutual friends – really went a long way, because obviously we wanted someone we could trust wholeheartedly to do this for us and make it as easy as possible, because this is the first house we've sold. We've done the buying experience, but never the selling experience, so it was a little nerve-wracking and some unknowns in there. So we really wanted someone we could trust. Meeting Matt and the rest of his team gave us that comfort level to know that they would do the best by us. So that went a long way and of course we had a couple of showings, we had an opportunity to meet Matt and that went a long way.”

“I think having Matt living in this neighborhood and we're fortunate enough to live close. So he really, really knows our neighborhood. And I think where we were, the knowledge of the timing of the market was so helpful, pushed us a little bit to get our house ready for staging, to get it on the market, at the most ideal time. At least for me, I needed that motivation because I work better under pressure. Life's busy. And I'm a procrastinator. So that's super helpful.”

“And also, they know how the market's gonna go. And they, whether you have a relationship with your realtor and your friends or your neighbors, if they're in your neighborhood, I feel like it adds a little bit of trust because they want you to be happy. They don't want to do a deal and then just kind of like leave you. You see them and your kids go to school together, everything like that. I think we saw that a lot with other realtors that came through not knowing the area and it really shows it was really apparent to me that it was Matt who really knew a lot about this neighborhood and his team.”

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced during the selling process?

“For me, I feel like one of the biggest challenges is just the fear of the unknown. And I do think like when you, when you have an offer and then you have to just kind of keep moving forward. I think that Matt was good at helping me keep my sanity. You can get caught up in some little things. It gets emotional, but it's a business deal. And so riding that line was a bit of a struggle.”

“Fortunately we had a number of offers on the home and all of them were a little different. There was nuance to each of them. And using Matt's expertise to understand, okay, this is probably the best one for us and moving forward with it. That, I think, was one of the biggest challenges, but also one of the biggest items and points that Matt was able to help us with. Yes, and we even had some extra with like our, the trying wanting rent back and then we have to ask for rent back so that was a little confusing and threw in some extra challenges. But I feel like really it all went smoothly in hindsight.”

“Well, the biggest challenge was dealing with the other realtor, which thankfully we didn't have to do. That was Matt's job. The buying realtor was a little challenging. And Matt did a great job in dealing with all those issues and not putting them on our shoulders so much. And reassuring us that that's part of the business. And that she's really just trying to do the best for her client in her own way and you know everyone has a different work style. So that was great!”

What advice would you give to someone selling their home for the first time?

“Getting back to the staging of the house and setting it up for success at the front end was the biggest part probably for us . . . My biggest advice would be to get a stager. Even, I felt like I had a pretty good hand on what I wanted to do, but she was just helpful in like make a decision. You know, I'll hang these pictures, just those little things that feel overwhelming when you're dealing with all of it.”

“Enlist help. If you have family to help just take stuff out of, get stuff out of your house. I think that's the biggest thing. Find a realtor that you like to work with. I think that is a huge deal because you're going to be contacting them a lot. And sometimes I would just have to like shoot him a text, you know, kind of to just vent my mind a little bit. He was super nice about that.”

“That was going to be my point – find a realtor you trust and who is accessible and you're comfortable. Just like Carly said, speaking with and running things through. I think that along with the staging and getting your house to where it needs to be are probably the two most important things.”

How did you manage the emotional aspects of selling your home? Was it difficult to leave your home, and how did you deal with those feelings?

“Just selling your house – it is emotional. I mean, everyone has different levels. We've been here for 12 years. Our life has changed several times while living here. We've changed the house and done things that we wanted it to be. And it's, you know, scary to move on and kind of start over. But don't be afraid to do it. I mean, that's the biggest thing. Don't be afraid to take the next step."

“We're still working through it, right? I mean, we still have things to do and nerves to overcome, but very happy with the process, very happy with Matt and his team and how the whole situation turned out in the end. Of course, a couple of road bumps that Matt helped us get over and very thankful for that. But just don't be scared to take that next step because it's certainly worth it in the end.”

“Your house is only your home because you're in it. So you can create that elsewhere and someone else can come in and be happy in your home.”

Thank you, Carly and Kevin, it was such a pleasure working with you!