If you’re getting ready to show your home, you know the stress of preparing your home for showings. This stress is intensified if you are going to be living in your home while the showings occur; add kids to the mix and you might just lose your sanity. Knowing which areas to focus your cleaning on while preparing to show your home can relieve some of the stress. Having systems in place to quickly tidy up before you show your home is helpful. This allows you to continue living in your home while lessening the stress of getting things out. Here are four areas to organize and declutter while preparing to show your home.
Show Your Home’s Linen Closets
Here in the south, we simply call our linen closets “hall” closets. Regardless of what you call them, they should be clean and organized before you show your home. Potential buyers will absolutely open the doors to these closets, and while it may not matter to some buyers what the inside looks like, if it is clean and organized the buyer will definitely have a more positive experience while touring your home.
- Declutter: If the closet is too full, it will look like you do not have enough room in your home to store personal belongings. If the items in the closet are messily placed, the potential buyer will not be able to see the function of the space.
- Organize: At the very least, straighten up your items. If you have shelving, place items neatly or purchase storage baskets to make the closet appear organized. If there are no shelves, utilize your floor space and the back of the door. Consider purchasing hanging racks or bins to help make the space look more functional. The more organized your space, the more appealing it will be to buyers.
Show Your Home’s Bathroom Storage
Whether you like it or not, potential buyers are probably going to open up your bathroom storage to check out what is available. This can feel personal, but if this person plans to buy your home, they are going to need to imagine how they would store their personal belongings. Bathroom storage, or the lack of, can make or break a buyer’s decisions on your home. While the potential buyer may not intend to keep their home super organized, seeing the potential of the space really does make a difference.
- Declutter: It’s time to throw away all of the expired medicine and empty bottles. Those bandaid wrappers you left in there? Get rid of them. Throw away the clutter so that you can make the most of your storage space.
- Organize: I suggest placing any of your personal items such as prescription medications or anything you may use for personal care inside a basket or box so that potential buyers are not left pilfering through your medications. Plus, hiding all of these things just makes your space tidier.
Show Your Home’s Refrigerator
Much like your other storage spaces, you may not expect potential buyers to open your fridge while you show your home. However, some of them will. If these people are serious about purchasing your home, they are going to want to see the storage available to them. So take the time to declutter and organize.
- Declutter: Throw out anything expired. I can almost promise you that you’ve got some jars of something in there that is expired. Go through and toss out those empty and expired items. Old produce? Toss it. Look for anything that needs to go and get rid of it.
- Organize: While you may not be able to go out and buy a bunch of nice organizers, you can straighten things up and help potential buyers see the space that is available.
Show Your Home’s Countertops
While it is important that you are able to continue living in your space as you show your home, cleaning off your countertops is also important. Even if you organize things that are out, this can make the countertop space appear smaller than it is. Potential buyers need to see the available space, not how you use it.
- Declutter: Anything that can be put elsewhere, move it. Put mail away because this can make counters look especially cluttered. If possible, put small appliances inside a cabinet. It is ok to leave fruit bowls or fresh produce out, as these appear much like fresh flowers.
- Organize: Whatever has to be out, make sure it is displayed in an appealing way. Again, nice bowls or bins will make the space appear more organized.
If you are not living in your space while you show your home, staging rooms is proven to help homes sell. However, for those of you that must continue living in your space, follow these tips and look forward to selling your home!
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