Getting the House Ready for the Market (Part 3)

In part two of this series, we looked at how to ensure that the interior of your home is pleasing to the senses. This presents a strong first impression and will help keep the buyer in the mood to view the rest of the home.

In part three, we’ll discuss decluttering the home and why it’s so important.

Time for the Heavy Lifting

Decluttering a house not only helps it appear roomier, but it also enables a buyer to picture his or her family living there. This process involves getting rid of a lot of "stuff," whether to a storage unit, a charity, or via a garage sale.

Start with the furniture. If you have nice, large rooms, oversized furniture isn't likely to be a problem. Big furniture in small rooms, however, needs to go. You may miss the 152-inch plasma TV in your 12-by-18-foot living room, but keep in mind that its removal will make you more money on the sale of the home. Now, if the same TV is sitting in a huge media room, you have yourself a selling feature!

The story is the same for oversized bedroom furniture. Take it to storage and rent smaller items or repurpose items from other areas of the home.

While you're moving furniture around, ensure that each room holds only those items appropriate to the room’s purpose. For instance, if the treadmill is in the bedroom, either create an exercise room or put the treadmill in storage. If baby items are strewn around the home office, put them in the nursery so that it is clear to buyers that the home office is truly a home office. (Home offices are big sellers, so it pays to play them up.

Smaller Clutter

Once you've opened up the rooms, it's time to get rid of the clutter. Buyers want to be able to see themselves living in a space, and that's difficult to do when strange faces are peering at them from family photographs, or they're confronted with stacks of unfamiliar DVDs.

Go through each room and remove anything of a personal nature. If you have any doubts about what constitutes "personal," take an hour to tour a local new home development's model homes. The professional designers of the interiors of these homes are staging experts, and they carefully choose each item to help potential buyers imagine themselves living in that home.

Don't neglect drawers, cupboards, and closets when you're on the hunt for clutter. The roomier these areas appear, the more attractive they will be to buyers who crave storage space.

Head on over to part four in this series to learn more tips on getting your home ready for the market.