One of the most well-known home staging tactics is to depersonalize your home. Removing personal items from your home does double duty. It helps potential home buyers imagine their families in your home, and it also helps you sort memorabilia to pack for your upcoming move. To appeal to the widest range of buyers, tackle these four depersonalization rules for staging a house for sale.
Pictures
Most people have family photos around the home. While friends and family members might squeal over those cute baby photos or admire your latest vacation album, strangers won’t care about these things.
At best, home buyers will read those pictures as clutter. At worst, they will be actively turned off because your family photos prevent them from connecting with the space. Take family photos off the walls, remove pictures (and photo magnets) from the fridge, and clear photo albums off the bookshelves.
Take Down Degrees and Certificates
Hanging a degree or certificate in a home office is common. You worked hard for your education and you want to celebrate your achievement. However, you never know how someone else will want to use your home or what will appeal to them. A home office with framed degrees is too limiting for many people.
Take down framed degrees from offices, command centers, bedrooms, and other areas. Remove certificates of achievement, participation ribbons, trophies, and similar items.
Store Your Collections or Memorabilia
You might not think of personal collections, such as hobby items, as something that’s too personal to leave in place. However, home buyers might not have the same interests as you. While you find that yarn stash in the living room bookcase pleasing because you think of where you bought all the yarn and you love to knit, someone else could wonder why there’s a mess of stuff on the bottom shelf.
Other examples of hobby items to remove as you stage your home include musical instruments, games and puzzles, sports memorabilia, or home exercise equipment. As a general rule, if there’s a chance something could be interpreted in a negative light, or that would appeal to a narrow range of home buyers, pack it up.
Don’t overlook kids’ stuff if you have children. You don’t need to pack up every single toy, as that would not be fair to your child. However, you can edit down their toys, stuffed animals, and other items. This will help keep the house clear of clutter, remove potential safety hazards (such as tripping on a toy on the floor), and set that neutral palette.
Remove Family Name Elements
Family name decor is common. Perhaps you have a plaque on your front door that says, “Welcome to The Smiths,” or maybe you’ve decorated with letters that commemorate your first or last initials, i.e. “S.” It’s common with these items to become so used to them that you no longer really see them, but you can bet that homebuyers will spot these things on their initial walk-through.
As part of the home staging process, walk around your house looking for any name memorabilia and box it up.
Divide your personal items into two categories: What you want to keep and what, if anything, you want to get rid of. Throw away anything you no longer want to keep and box up everything you want to save. Keep your personal items in a storage unit where they’ll be safe and secure, yet out of sight until you’re ready to set up your new home. This can be a difficult, emotional step to work through, but you must do it before a move.
Do I Have to Follow Staging Rules to Sell My House?
Like any of the rules for staging a house for sale, removing the personal elements can be a lot of work. But this step has the added stress of being sentimental and emotionally trying. If you don’t want to deal with examining your home through an impersonal eye, let HomeGo know.
We specialize in an easier way to sell your home. So, skip the staging and acting as if you’ve never lived in your home. Schedule your 10-minute walk-through for your no-obligation cash offer today.
