Since buying a home is likely the biggest investment you’ll make in your lifetime, deciding to move can be overwhelming, to say the least. It can be especially overwhelming after you meet with a Realtor and they suggest that you “declutter and depersonalize” -or- “stage the property.”
While both of these can seem daunting, the bottom line is that the perfect time to get rid of things you don’t need is now. We asked our colleague Christy Maser with Covenant by Design for a few simple tips to begin the process for preparing your home for sale. Her following tips provide initial steps you can start on today to declutter your home.
How To Declutter Your Home
Donate & Dispose. Start small by focusing on one room at a time. Don’t try to take on the entire house all at once because your head will start spinning. Create three piles marked “Keep”, “Donate”, and “Dispose.” As you pick up each item immediately, and without hesitation, place it into one of the three bins. Use the “Keep” boxes as items you’re going to bring with you to your new home. Now you can technically say that you have already started packing!
Pack. Begin to pack up everything personal in each room and only leave the essentials. Everything from family photographs, diplomas, political or school-affiliated items, and decor should be removed. This will clear out the home and create a neutral atmosphere for potential buyers to envision the space as theirs.
Organize your boxes and clearly mark their contents and destination room in your new home. This will make for a streamlined unpacking process, and you’ll thank yourself later! Color code boxes to a master room chart to help movers know which room to deliver the boxes to once you arrive. Be sure to pack an “Open First” box of essentials.
Organize. Before a showing, get a large bin, like a laundry basket, and go room-to-room and toss in everything that is out of place to quickly clear surfaces and floor spaces. Take the bin to a table or bed and sort it by room, then take each pile to its appropriate room and put it away. With this method, your home will look tidy in a matter of minutes.
In your new home, it’s great to create an organizational system to keep clutter from overwhelming your new space. Hang your clothes by season and style, and create storage systems for barely-used items. Install organizers in closets and cabinets and make a habit of putting things away once you use them.
Statistics About Staged Homes
The goal of staging is to make your home standout to every prospective buyer. We can work with decor you already have or fill an empty room with our own pieces to create a space everyone will enjoy. From residential to commercial staging, paint selection, and more, we can stage any space to help you sell as soon as possible and for more than your asking price.
Homes that are staged see the following:
- Over half (58%) of Seller’s Agents believe the staging increased the value of the home 1-20%
- Over 77% of buyers find it “easier to visualize the property as their future home” when it’s staged
- 40% of buyers are “more willing to walk through a staged home they saw online”
Not only will these tips help you in selling your home, but they will help you live a less cluttered life in your new home as well. Contact Christy Maser at (502) 216-4549 for a free consultation.
