Decluttering a home is often the hardest part of prepping it to sell. It can be difficult to part with your belongings or you may feel overwhelmed at having to organize and put things away. However, one of the biggest advantages of decluttering is to help prospective buyers see themselves living in the home and to not think about how the current owner lives. In addition, if everything looks meticulous inside a home, buyers will assume the owners took the same care with home maintenance.
Vivian Gilbert, an accredited staging professional and owner of Home Staging By Vivian, offers the following 5 decluttering tips to help prepare your home before it goes on the active market.
- Cabinets - Prospective buyers will look in your cabinets. They want to know what type of shelving you have and what condition the inside is in, particularly under the sink. By removing extra bowls, pots/pans, storage containers and cleaning supplies, you can make your cabinets appear more roomy and appealing. Don’t forget to clean out the medicine cabinets too!
- Containers - Often there are items like kids toys that can’t be packed away, but they need a place to be stored when showing the home. Consider decorative containers or boxes that can be placed in a closet or on a shelf.
- Closets - Closets are often a place where shoes are thrown and items are stored to get them out of the way. Yet, good closet space is typically always high on a buyers' preference list. Remove shoes that are out of season and bags and clothing that aren’t being used to create a closet that looks more spacious and inviting.
- Basement - The basement is a great place to put items that are no longer being used, however, the room needs to have a defined purpose for prospective buyers to appreciate the extra usable space. If you have items that aren’t going with you to your next home, or aren’t being used for staging, now is the time to sell them, donate them to your favorite charity, or haul them to the dump. Our previous blog on 10 Online Options To Sell Or Donate Your Unwanted Stuff may be helpful to you.
- Furniture - Sometimes less furniture in a room is better. Buyers have an easier time visually adding furniture than subtracting furniture. Use only what is needed to help gauge the size of a room. A small bedroom might only need a bed and an end table where a larger bedroom might also call for a dresser and a sitting area. A stager can help determine what furniture is important and what should be put in storage.
We would also recommend clearing off kitchen and bathroom countertops to show the expanse of counter space and, as mentioned above, to make your interior spaces more visually appealing.
At the Eric Stewart Group, we offer a complimentary consultation with a professional stager to all of our seller clients. To learn more about what you can do to prepare for a home sale, download our FREE Market Ready Guide, which provides information on when houses sell the fastest, how to determine your asking price, which improvements will give the best return for the smallest investment, and much more!
