Emotion vs. Reason
When conversing with real estate
agents, you will often find that
when they talk to you about buying
real estate, they will refer to your
purchase as a "home." Yet if you are
selling property, they will often
refer to it as a "house." There is a
reason for this. Buying real estate
is often an emotional decision, but
when selling real estate you need to
remove emotion from the equation.
You need to think of your house as a
marketable commodity. Property. Real
estate. Your goal is to get others
to see it as their potential home,
not yours. If you do not consciously
make this decision, you can
inadvertently create a situation
where it takes longer to sell your
property.
The first step in getting your home
ready to sell is to "de-personalize"
it.
De-personalize the House
The reason you want to
"de-personalize" your home is
because you want buyers to view it
as their potential home. When a
potential homebuyer sees your family
photos hanging on the wall, it puts
your own brand on the home and
momentarily shatters their illusions
about owning the house.
Therefore,
put away family photos, sports
trophies, collectible items,
knick-knacks, and souvenirs. Put
them in a box. Rent a storage area
for a few months and put the box in
the storage unit.
Do not just put the box in the
attic, basement, garage or a closet.
Part of preparing a house for sale
is to remove "clutter," and that is
the next step in preparing your
house for sale.
Removing Clutter, Though You May Not
Think of it as Clutter
This is the hardest thing for most
people to do because they are
emotionally attached to everything
in the house. After years of living
in the same home, clutter collects
in such a way that may not be
evident to the homeowner. However,
it does affect the way buyers see
the home, even if you do not realize
it. Clutter collects on shelves,
counter tops, drawers, closets,
garages, attics, and basements.
Take a step back and pretend you are
a buyer. Let a friend help point out
areas of clutter, as long as you can
accept their views without getting
defensive. Let your agent help you,
too.
Kitchen Clutter
The kitchen is a good place to start
removing clutter, because it is an
easy place to start. First, get
everything off the counters.
Everything. Even the toaster. Put
the toaster in a cabinet and take it
out when you use it. Find a place
where you can store everything in
cabinets and drawers. Of course, you
may notice that you do not have
cabinet space to put everything.
Clean them out. The dishes, pots and
pans that rarely get used? Put them
in a box and put that box in
storage, too.
You see, homebuyers will open all
your cabinets and drawers,
especially in the kitchen. They want
to be sure there is enough room for
their "stuff." If your kitchen
cabinets, pantries, and drawers look
jammed full, it sends a negative
message to the buyer and does not
promote an image of plentiful
storage space. The best way to do
that is to have as much "empty
space" as possible.
For that reason, if you have a "junk
drawer," get rid of the junk. If you
have a rarely used crock pot, put it
in storage. Do this with every
cabinet and drawer. Create open
space.
If you have a large amount of
foodstuffs crammed into the shelves
or pantry, begin using them –
especially canned goods. Canned
goods are heavy and you don’t want
to be lugging them to a new house,
anyway – or paying a mover to do so.
Let what you have on the shelves
determine your menus and use up as
much as you can.
Beneath the sink is very critical,
too. Make sure the area beneath the
sink is as empty as possible,
removing all extra cleaning
supplies. You should scrub the area
down as well, and determine if there
are any tell-tale signs of water
leaks that may cause a homebuyer to
hesitate in buying your home.
Closet Clutter
Closets are great for accumulating
clutter, though you may not think of
it as clutter. We are talking about
extra clothes and shoes – things you
rarely wear but cannot bear to be
without. Do without these items for
a couple of months by putting them
in a box, because these items can
make your closets look "crammed
full."
Sometimes there are shoeboxes
full of "stuff" or other accumulated
personal items, too.
Furniture Clutter
Many people have too much furniture
in certain rooms – not too much for
your own personal living needs – but
too much to give the illusion of
space that a homebuyer would like to
see. You may want to tour some
builders’ models to see how they
place furniture in the model homes.
Observe how they place furniture in
the models so you get some ideas on
what to remove and what to leave in
your house.
Storage Area Clutter
Basements, garages, attics, and
sheds accumulate not only clutter,
but junk. These areas should be as
empty as possible so that buyers can
imagine what they would do with the
space. Remove anything that is not
essential and take it to the storage
area.
Or have a garage sale.
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