Best bet would be to see if there is a regional realtor specializing in period homes.

Others more knowledgeable than I will have specific suggestions, but I'm aware of the preservation society and suggest you contact one in your area. I'm linking one such organization that may be able to offer guidance. We have friends who relied on the registry and were successful.

Fortunately, you have time to research and prepare. Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Nat'l Preservation Trust

Old houses are in a class by themselves as are old house lovers. When it comes time to sell do the needed cleaning and decluttering but don't rework the house. Leave it as you have decorated and worked on it. Someone looking for a old house is going to enjoy seeing the house dressed and may even offer to buy some of your things for when they move in.
Unlike typical home buyers old house people are expecting a certain look to the old houses they look at. Nothing is worse than to find a really neat looking old house and then walk inside to find out it's been ripped apart or made into something it's not.
Old house people are very often into antiques. They expect period wallpaper and more complex paint schemes. Stripping your home of that will disappoint possible buyers and any agent who tells you to make it more beige is the wrong person to sell it for you.
Yes,you are going to have lots of looky loos BUT don't be discouraged. One of those lookers might know a friend in another town whose looking for what you have.
The only precaution I'd make is to make sure the antiques you have on display can't be accidentally knocked over or stolen by light fingers.
Make sure you have the houses history out for buyers to look at if you have it and if you took pics of the rebirth of the house make sure those are in a album out for display too.
I know it sounds silly but for many old house owners it's not just about the real estate it's about the history of the house and it's previous owners that draws them in.
And yes, I'm a old house owner and will be till the day I die.

Our friends felt exactly as Carol describes, and I've read previous posts from Pal about his strong preference for maintaining vernacular. Many here concur that it's far better to maintain the home's context than to modernize in inappropriate ways.

You seem more concerned about how much of your personal belongs to have displayed when you're ready to sell, and that's hard to say without having an expert assess in person. It may be very helpful for you to begin looking at period homes on the market currently just to have an idea of how others handle the situation. In your travels, you may also luck upon a RE agent with whom you click. Good luck!

What Carol said hit a nerve with me. It is always good practice to remove any item you aren't willing to part with. It is tough to guess what a looker may ask for, and it is a bummer when furniture gets in the way of a sale. All our realtors have been adamant they do not want a furniture item to mess a sale up. I had one sweating bullets. A buyer asked for my fire-extinguisher cover. It went with the motif of the kitchen. Why he thought I would care I do not know but he assumed it was home made and would matter. Painted from Michael's is not "home made". It was going to stay with the house either way.

I think if the house looks right, that is what people will sense. Decluttering and depersonalizing may mean getting rid of dozens of snapshots, but I don't think every family picture needs to come down unless you aren't comfortable with strangers looking at your pictures.

I did not stage mine at all except to fix or finish things I hadn't gotten around to, and to buy some pillows at IKEA because the one bed was bare except for sheets and sleeping pillows. (Bedding is one thing I have never had and can't commit to, but I digress)

I have 70 and counting candlesticks out, 20 Keane prints hung in the hallway, and random collections of plastic coral, pottery, stuff found on the sidewalk, a broken champagne glass I found in the attic and even a dead dragonfly I found-- on the mantlepiece. And a thousand books piled on tables and the floor. But I really acknowledge the age and history of the building when I renovated, and many people do not.

No one has ever suggested that I clear out any of it, take down the Keanes, paint the black hallway, any of it...there have only been 1 or 2 comments that were negative about the interior (and one was "I don't get it"), and in fact most of the comments about the apartment itself have been very positive. (Including one looker who said if they could afford it they would want to buy it decorated )The negative comments have been about the stairs outside (3 flights) and inside (open tread spiral), the lack of a second bath, and the condo fees (especially that).

If I had asked a certain type of stager to come and evaluate the place, I am sure they would've had me repaint at least the hallway, take away half the stuff, all of the Keane prints and 75% of the books.

abundantblessings, thank you for your insight. In our locality there really are no other homes that would be considered comparable to ours. Ask me how I know that? (tax assessor and also the bank!) Yes, I am somewhat concerned about our personal belongings, but more from a decorating standpoint. For example, we have a late 1800's parlor organ in the formal living room and I have a copy of Whitney's Improved Easy Method for the Parlor Organ(1886) displayed on the organ's book holder. Or another example is a framed May 1862 edition of Harper's Weekly. This is hung in the library as my husband is into Civil War memorabilia. There are also 2 Civil War era camp chairs in the library. Would this be considered clutter or too distracting?

Carol, I know what you mean. I thought this was our forever home, but circumstances change as well as health. Doubtful that we will find anything like it where we will move to. We are very lucky in that we know the complete history of the home as well as having documents, like the Abstract of Title from the bank which goes back to 1797. So no Carol, not silly. I know exactly what you mean.

arcy, I think for the most part, we would be tickled to sell many of the items to a buyer knowing that it would continue to stay in our home! As our ceilings are 12' it is doubtful that some of our pieces would fit into a more modern home.

Pal, yup, I just looked around and I would have snapshots of grandkids, etc that would need to be removed. But the rest? You give me hope! Thank you. It just seems that many of the items belong to that era and fit the "feel" of the home. But I also do not want to distract buyers with too many items that seem to call for attention? My daughter says I have way to much stuff, but when I look at the rooms (well for the most part anyway) they do not seem cluttered.

The only other suggestion I have right now is to consider registering your home now, if it is not yet on the registery. Sometimes it can be a bit tedious to do so, but your efforts may pay off perhaps to true old home lovers. On the other hand, doing so will prescribe future changes, so I'll be curious to what others think about this.

abundantblessings, we have the paperwork to register the house, and with it's known/published history, I doubt it would be very much trouble to do. We had decided not do it, as we knew we wanted to build the garage and make a few other changes. We did not want to be limited by what we could or could not do. This is something I too have wondered about for the future, now that we have pretty much decided to sell. I also am curious as to what others might think.

We've sold 3 old homes that we lived in while restoring. Each home was historically accurate, with both rich paint colors and a small amount of wallpaper. Never have we done ANYTHING for staging other than to remove personal photos. We have never repainted a room, we have never changed out our historic wall hangings. Our furnishings are primarily antiques as well.

Our first sale was to a buyer through word of mouth. The other 2 sales took 7-9 days. Yes, the real estate market was better for all e.

I absolutely agree that an old house buyer wants to see an old home! We also had a binder displayed that had my research for the home and I also had a binder that provided detail regarding all work we'd done. At each closing, the buyers thanked me for those.

I'd also mention on the old home websites that you'll be looking to sell. Fellow participants could be an asset as well.

I think if you were selling a modern type home with simple lines decluttering would be a must.

But, a historical home with all your collections would be expected, a given.

jmc01, we have several binders too! One with before and during pictures and the other is some of the documented history of our home(newspaper articles, etc) We are hoping that home sales/values will improve before we actually reach the point of selling in several years.

newdawn1895, then you don't think the decorations/collections would be distracting?

I would mention that the house is "eligible", and that way you could interest someone who might want to get it certified and but not turn someone off that was worried about the restriction.

Mary lu, nothing to add regarding staging, but I'm so sorry that it may be time to move on. I've seen your beautiful gardens and the new carriage house and know the decision can't be an easy one.

Pal, thinking back that is exactly what the PO did for us. He even gave us the paperwork! I had forgotten about that. In fact at the time it excited us, it was only later that we decided against it. Thanks for the reminder!

natal, thank you for your thoughts. It is something we have been mulling over since winter/early spring. Many hours spent discussing all of our options. No it hasn't been an easy decision to make. However, it won't be for a couple years, and the plan is that(hopefully)I will have a year after I retire to enjoy the gardens and our home. It would also allow us to take our time finding a new home. But then again you know how fast time flies and also how things can quickly change the best laid plans.

Mary lu - I am feeling so sad that you will be selling. I watched along with the garden renovation and have loved seeing your entire yard and home evolve into such a labor of love.

That said, I came upon this old homes site years ago and just enjoy going through it once in awhile. It might interest you. You may want to contact a local historical society or some such organization, to put out feelers for buyers. Word of mouth, you never know.

If there is anything of value/interest that you are going to keep and could be damaged or stolen (yes, it does happen), and it is feasible, I would suggest putting it/them/all in a temperature controlled storage facility before putting it on the market. It will protect them, and you won't have the risk of a potential buyer wanting or assuming it is included in the sale. My sister's Million dollar + sale in LA nearly fell through because the buyer was adamant about keeping the DR chandelier, which was not included in the final contract, but not as adament as my sister was!

Otherwise, I would start now making a complete inventory of what stays/what goes so that you HAVE IT IN WRITING and it can then be included in the contract when that time comes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Old homes site

I think that you need to consider if judging from your location you will realistically be able to attract an "old house" buyer.

If there is a pool of such buyers that would be seeking properties in your area, then I agree with the consensus posted above.

But, living in the midwest with relatives in many a small town, I understand that many towns have a "closed" set of potential customers. If this is more similar to your situation, then you need to assess if the most likely buyer for your home is a old house person, or just a person who lives in your town who needs to move. If it is the latter, then I think perhaps they will not place the same value on the period aesthetic, and be more concerned with the general space and what it offers. In that case, the less period decor you have, probably the better.

Mary Lu,

I want to correct a common misunderstanding about having a structure placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Having it "registered" in no way inhibits what you can do to the property in the way of adding, deleting, decorating, changing, etc. the listed buildings. There are NO legal constraints, so you could have listed the house and added the carriage house, etc. Once on the Register you could tear the building down, if you wanted to do so.

The main constraint imposed by Nat. Reg. is actually on nearby properties and projects if they involve Federal (and in some places, state) funding. During the review of any proposals that fall into this, their effect on the listed property recieves a higher level of scrutiny. Projects are not automatically rejected because of adjacent Nat. Reg. structures, but modifications might be requested.

Many people get confused about the Nat. Reg. requirements because the Interior Department also publishes some very useful guidelines (also sometimes called "standards") for the care and maintenance of historic properties, but these are not legally required mandates.

The National Register differs from locally-controlled things like zoned historic districts. These can, and fairly often do, come with restraints, including things like limited choices of colors, windows, height among others. But those are only local things, not the National Register.

HTH,

L

Good to know, liriodendron, as I was the first to suggest that registration might impinge as I'm aware of that local ordinances in some areas do limit exterior modifications. It may be good for anyone considering this to check with the most restrictive pertinent jurisdiction in their area and see if it has as part of its definition the inclusion of the home on the Nat'l Register.

wantoretire did, after posting and reading the replies so far, I guess our staging will be declutter and clean, but then rejoice in the history. Your suggestion of an inventory of what would/could be sold is an excellent idea. Also removing what absolutely would not be sold would be wise as well. The other thought we had was to have an auction of personal property. Thank you for the link. I took a quick peek and will go back to have a better look.

juliekcmo, our town/area is also a tourist area during the summer months. I suspect it could be advertised in larger cities as a summer home. It was used that way in the 1940s-1950's. However, I do think we would be willing to wait/search for the right "old house" buyer. It would be such an injustice to this home to sell it to someone who does not appreciate the history of it. Guess we are more vested in it than many people would be. We consider ourselves caretakers not owners. I guess this is something that is probably only understood by another old house lover?

liriodendron, thank you for the info. I guess I should have done more "homework" about having it listed. As far as I know there are no local designations that limit what can be done. All we had to do to build the garage was get a building permit. :-)