If your home is on the market or you plan to list it soon, decluttering is the best thing you can do to give yourself the greatest chance of selling quickly and for top dollar. When you remove non-essential items, it makes your home appear cleaner, bigger and ultimately more appealing. Additionally, a decluttered home ensures people considering making an offer that you will have your things cleared out in the time frame allowed.
Not All Decluttering Is The Same
Decluttering a home may be a universal concept, but how intense the process needs to be is relative. If you’re preparing to stage your home for the market, the level of decluttering required will likely be higher than how you live on a daily basis.
The chart below clearly illustrates that decluttering for the market is more intense than just trying to keep your home organized and functional.
Decluttering For Yourself
Decluttering For The Market
Take down personal items such as family photos
No
Yes
Reduce home decor to a minimum
No
Yes
Remove all items from surface areas to minimize visual clutter
No
Yes
Relocate extra furniture to storage
No
Yes
Put away evidence of pets such as bowls, toys and leashes
No
Yes
Store out of season clothing in bins or containers and relocate if possible
No
Yes
It can be a difficult process because so many of the things in your home are there because you love them and they mean something to you, but try to remind yourself that your most valued possessions will look just as amazing in your new space. If you’re having trouble getting started, The Complete Home Decluttering Checklist will give you you the guidance you need!
Take Down Personal Items
When it’s time to prepare your home for staging, you’ll have to declutter certain items that have made your house a home such as family photos, religious items and political memorabilia. Of course you don’t have to get rid of these items! You just need to tuck them away while your home is being staged. Potential buyers want to be able to envision themselves and their family in the space and your personal things may prevent them from doing that.
Reduce Home Decor
Similar to personal items, decor can be off-putting to people looking at your home. While you may love tchotchkes and collectables, they can cause visual clutter and make your home appear smaller. The goal is to make your space looked lived in without putting your personal stamp on every room, creating a clean slate for future buyers.
Minimize Visual Clutter
This may seem like an obvious task and it’s something you can do on a daily basis to keep your home functional and clutter free. But when it comes to staging, you probably need to take it up a notch. For example, an everyday item like a toaster, which lives on your counter because you use it every day, may be better off in a cabinet for as long as you’re showing your home. Other items such as cosmetics on your bathroom counter or books on your bedside table are also best put away in a drawer or behind a door.
Relocate Excess Furniture
This may seem like a strange concept because presumably, the furniture you have is needed. But once you’ve edited many of your items, you may find that you can temporarily remove some of your furniture. For example, small tables, ottomans, extra chairs, or larger pieces like hutches used to hold collectables or dishes can be moved to a basement or storage unit. The more space you can free up the better.
Put Away Your Pet’s Belongings
You love your pets, we know you do! And it may seem like a huge inconvenience to put away their toys, bowls and leashes every time you show your home, but not everyone loves animals and while you may not be able to completely hide their existence, the more you can minimize their presence the less time buyers will spend thinking about them.
Store Your Out Of Season Clothing
Closet space is something potential buyers specifically look for. The bigger and more organized your closets are, the better your home will show, so decluttering your clothes is one of the most advantageous things you can do. We suggest using weatherproof, clear bins to move all of your out of season clothing to another area and make sure that your closet floors are clear of clutter. If you’re pressed for space, even moving clothes to higher shelves or under your bed can make a big difference visually.
We Can Help!
Preparing your home and keeping it staged for the market can be one of the most stressful things you will do in your life. We’ve been helping people in NYC and the tristate area with this difficult task for over a decade and we can absolutely guarantee that with our assistance, decluttering your home for staging will be a seamless experience. Contact us today if your home is on the market or if you’ll be listing it soon!