It may be hard to accept, but taste in décor varies greatly between people. What is comfortable to one person is undoubtedly clutter to another. The Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines clutter in part, as “a large amount of things that are not arranged in a neat or orderly way; a crowded or disordered collection of things.”
Assessing The Clutter
If you expect to receive top dollar on your home sale, you should first invest some time to clear your clutter. Depending on your schedule, this might take a few hours or several days.
Walk through your home with the mindset of a tourist and take pictures. Analyze what you see in your pictures. Get a second opinion from your real estate agent or someone else and compare notes. For a fee, there are professionals who give staging advice.
Make an assessment of what you absolutely must have access to over the next few weeks. Everything beyond these items becomes potential clutter. That’s not to say these possessions are not valuable, just that they may detract from your home sale.
No area is free from assessment and storing items in a spare room or garage are not an optimum plan. Each room is subject to inspection by potential buyers.
Clutter Disposition
Even if you are still living in the home, you want buyers to imagine themselves in it. Buyers can be distracted by your personal possessions so minimize as much as you can.
· * Secure your valuables; consider off-site, secure storage for items such as jewelry and firearms, etc.
· * Sell or donate items you no longer need. This helps you declutter and provides a benefit to others.
· * Throw away or recycle items which are beyond repair.
· * Pack up items you will need at your new residence.
· * Make rooms appear more spacious by rearranging furniture and removing some items.
Storage of your possessions is best handled outside of the house. Potential buyers will go through each room including the garage. They will look in closets and determine what type of storage they will have if they buy your home. Consider renting a storage space, onsite storage pod or making other arrangements with a trusted source.
One final advantage to decluttering – there are fewer items to keep clean!
As always, let’s foresee the possibilities . . . and get results!
