Historic houses are really special homes, and as such, they need really special buyers who truly understand what it takes to buy and love a historic home. Some of the things to consider when selling your historic home include:
Choose your agent carefully. Even if a real estate agent is the superstar of the subdivision, you may be better off with an agent who knows and loves historic homes – and the market for these historic homes. When you’re interviewing agents, ask how many historic houses they have sold and what strategies they use for pricing, staging, and selling these special homes.
Don’t over-renovate. The traditional advice for selling a house is to make it look as close to new as possible, but that obviously won’t be the way to go here. You’re looking for a buyer who appreciates the character of a historic home, so you don’t want to erase that with the conventional advice of neutral paint and open floor plans.
But do update what you need to. Even people who love historic homes don’t always love historic plumbing and HVAC systems. It’s a fine line between preserving authenticity and actually living in a house, so you’ll need to make sure that your house is actually livable in the modern sense, which means good insulation, robust wiring, hot showers, air conditioning, and energy-efficient appliances. You might even get ahead of the game by ordering an inspection so you won’t be caught by surprise if anything is needed to bring it up to code.
Get your cheat sheet ready. Anyone preparing to make the biggest purchase of their life – which is what a home represents to most people – is going to have a lot of questions, and people who are seriously considering buying a historic house are probably going to have even more.
Be prepared to talk about the history of your house, any renovations that you or previous owners have made, average utility costs, and maybe even contact information for your homeowners’ insurance agent (who is presumably prepared to write another policy on the house). You should also be able to talk about easements and restrictions, if any.