Staging is a necessary evil of selling your house. But you can’t stage a cluttered house. Potential home buyers will want to see everything, which means there’s no stuffing clutter into closets or basements. To show off your home at its best and increase interest (and offer prices), you’ve got to declutter everything and stage carefully. Start with these 5 must-do tips to declutter your home.
Remove Knick-Knacks
Potential buyers want to envision themselves in your home, and they won’t be able to when your knick-knacks are everywhere.
Set aside time to go through collections and put away personal items, from family photos and children’s toys to decorative objects, and souvenirs. While a handful of items might be able to serve as accent pieces in the staged home, your best bet is to remove all knick-knacks.
Clear Countertops in Kitchen
Buyers take a special interest in kitchens. If your counters are cluttered, they will believe that the kitchen lacks storage space. Put away all appliances that aren’t built in, including toasters, stand mixers, espresso machines, and blenders. Box up cookbooks and move any food items into the pantry. Your goal should be clean, clear countertops at all times. This makes a huge difference for potential home buyers.
Clear Refrigerator Inside and Out
Refrigerator doors attract clutter, and after a while, you might not even see the clutter because you’re so used to it. Remove all items from the door like magnets, photos, calendars, take-out menus, etc. Then clean the fridge door to remove streaks and handprints.
Give the fridge the same attention inside. Now is the time to pull out and wash produce bins, scrub shelves and go through the condiments on the side door to curate your fridge for showings.
Clear out Hobby Materials and Printed items
Living rooms, bedrooms, finished basements, and other areas tend to attract printed items and hobby clutter. These rooms will show best when they are free of random items, including paper clutter. Consider that buyers won’t be able to imagine themselves turning that back bedroom into a nursery when it’s set up as a craft room, with bins full of yarn, scrap materials, and ribbon strewed about.
Edit down your clutter and be ruthless. If you haven’t cooked those dog-eared recipes by now, chances are you won’t. Recycle or donate those old magazines, too.
Then turn your attention to hobby materials. Once you go through your stash, you may be surprised at everything you have. Save what still interests you, but box it up. Then toss or donate items that you won’t realistically use.
Organize Cords and Wires
Don’t overlook electronic clutter. Between smartphones and smart devices, there are more cords than ever around the house. As a general rule, cords and wires should be tucked out of sight. If something isn’t plugged in (or doesn’t need to be plugged in), wind the cord around the device and store it.
You may not be able to put away routers, modems, computers, or printers. For the cords you can’t store, strive to organize everything neatly so home buyers won’t notice cords. Cable hiding stations keep cords out of sight, while decorative baskets provide a handy way to camouflage cords that sit in a tangle on the floor.
As you declutter each area, store items for your pending move, donate them, or toss them. Resist the urge to put things in the garage out of nostalgia to decide later what you’re going to do with them, as this just creates clutter somewhere else. Then give everything a good cleaning to minimize the work you will need to do later on.
While you are moving from room to room decluttering, just remind yourself that the goal is to help potential buyers picture themselves living in your house. Decluttering also has the added benefit of eliminating the apprehension that clutter is hiding big problems in the home.
If decluttering sounds like a nightmare, then consider selling your house as is to HomeGo. We don’t ask you to do or fix anything. Just schedule a walk-through of your property, and get a cash offer on the spot.
