Selling the Family Home

Welcome to Behind the Before & After | Buying and Selling - where I share, step-by-step, how I help all kinds of buyers and sellers reach their real estate goals. Whether you're downsizing, out-growing a home, or house hunting for the very first time, I know the challenges, and I know how to help you through them! Below, Selling the Family Home -

How We Met l Old Family Friends

I had known this family for many years when Sellers M&D came to me in a professional capacity; their ultimate goal was to move closer to their daughter and their baby grandson. To do this, they’d need to sell their family home - a classic Cape Cod on the North Shore - where they’d been living for 50 years and where they’d raised their son and daughter. 

Photos, clockwise from upper left: childhood decor (his), a crowded garage, childhood decor (hers), boxed up and ready to go!

The Challenge | A Life Full of Memories 

Any home that has been well lived-in and loved for so long has a lot of stuff and this house was no exception - it was spacious, with a large garage and finished basement, a bonus room on the first floor, and plentiful closets throughout the second floor - all filled to the brim. I knew we needed to thin things out and stage the home carefully, so that potential buyers could see how big the space actually was, and imagine their own family growing and enjoying the home for years to come. 

The sellers had some health challenges, and had already found a great 55-plus community that they wanted to move to - near their daughter and her family - and they were ready to make a commitment. Their son now lived out-of-state, their daughter lived an hour away (on the South Shore - of course!), and everyone had busy schedules. To get us all on task as quickly as possible, I called in a professional, my referral partner Maxine, from Out from Under organizing. She held a virtual consultation with the whole family and went over the big decisions they would have to make - what they were going to move with them, what could be sold and what they wanted to donate. The family put a plan in place and we started cleaning out the house. 

But downsizing wasn’t just a logistical challenge, it was an emotional challenge too. My clients were going through all of their memories, from over 50 years of family life. As old friends, they confided to me that it was very hard, seeing their life flashing before their eyes, while they knew that they were going into their final chapter - even if their memories were happy ones, and their family time now was joyful. 

After about 2 months - and a lot of hard work from all parties - the house was almost ready to go on the summer market. One key strategy was to move as much as possible into the garage and basement; these areas don’t need to be empty to photograph and show well. Buyers just want to see how much space they're getting, but don’t need to focus on the details in these spaces. A clear path to the utilities is always helpful - and we managed that. We were ready!

The Outcome | A Young Family Falls in Love 

So my clients moved into their new community, we got the house on the market and I held a weekend of Open Houses. We had amazing traffic and started receiving offers after the second day on the market; ultimately we ended up with four offers. My sellers took the first offer; they were excited to sell the house to a young family who already lived in town and who were expecting a new baby. For their part, the buyers loved the house and the big back yard and outdoor deck. The summer weather was beautiful and they were ready to move in as soon as possible. 

After that, the transaction could not have gone more smoothly from contract to closing. 

The sellers’ kids were a huge part of making this move happen for their parents. And the senior family members are now so happy in their new community, with lots of free time to spend with their baby grandson. At times, my clients felt overwhelmed - sometimes emotionally, and sometimes logistically - at the thought of selling their home. However we worked as a team and took it one step at a time for a wonderful outcome that benefited two great families - sellers and buyers. 

Thanks for the kind words, from one of the grown-up kids, below -

"My family had a great experience with Jennifer Keenan. Our situation included elderly parents selling a home they lived in for 47 years and two involved children, one of which lived out of state.

I felt compelled to write a review due to the impact Jen had on the navigation of both getting the home ready for the market as well as getting us through the close.

We asked a lot of Jen related to what needed to be completed / fixed prior to listing as well as what the house should look like at listing. She provided options for assistance (such as a professional organizer given the amount of stuff accumulated over 47 years) and other junk removal strategies. We asked for guidance (often when my family had differing opinions) and agreed to follow her recommendations. After finalizing the sale we all agreed she was right and we avoided some costly repairs that would not have made a difference in the offers received.

We had multiple offers after the first weekend of open houses and accepted an offer above listing. We don’t feel as though we listed the home too low as some offers were below the list price.

Lastly, we had a late challenge that would have created an issue with closing if Jen did not help us navigate to resolution on this item the week of closing.

Throughout the process Jen was willing to meet with my parents in person whenever necessary. This was important as my parents struggled with technology and preferred to talk live. They moved prior to listing the house and Jen did not mind going to their new location, which was South of Boston. (they sold in MA near the NH boarder). Communication with Jen and our group was key. She managed our family dynamic well.

Although we had an extended period of time to get the house on the market, we closed 5 weeks and a day from listing. This took a lot of stress away from my parents as they settled into their new lives. My parents said it was an A+ experience. They started the process being terrified and ended relieved with more profit than expected."

For this and all my online reviews, please see my Google Business page. For more case studies of how I help buyers and sellers, explore my whole series Behind the Before & After | Buying & Selling.