Get Your Stuff Out! (Please)

It's always amazing to me how many homes on the market are just a few easy steps away from being in their top condition (whatever that is). Many times, just removing personal items and clutter will change the entire impression that the home gives. Here are a couple examples:

I just sold a home in Forest Hills that was vacant. It was a family home where the older parents had moved into a retirement community while the children took care of selling the home. The problem was- it still had many of the family's personal items and outdated furniture from decades ago. It wasn't dirty or in need of repair, it just felt like someone else's home. Later, when the home was empty, it felt much different and looked incredible. If they had cleared the contents sooner would they have sold it for more or quicker than the 6 months it was on the market? Who knows, but it wouldn't have hurt.

Another home I recently listed and sold was a fixer-upper that hadn't been lived in for over 2 years. However, all of the contents of the home were still there from when the home became vacant! Even though it was a home in need of some serious rehab, I knew it would show better if it was at least empty. We ended up having all the personal items removed and then sold it for full price on the second day!

When you're selling a home, you want it in the best possible condition to entice the most buyers to take a look. If possible, it's great to stage the home. Staging involves rearranging furniture, decluttering, etc to get as close as possible to being a model home showplace. You want to "wow" the buyer as they tour your home, not distract them with all of your family pictures and unusual collections.

This is especially true in this day of Internet home searches. Buyers make a lot of judgements based on the pictures (or lack of them). So it's best to have your home presented in the best possible way.

I remember hearing Dave Ramsey talking on his syndicated radio program about how you should move everything that you possibly can out of the house into a storage unit when your home is on the market. He said it should look like a model home and you'll even feel different living there because it won't feel like your home anymore.

That is the idea. It's not always possible, but many times the steps to making your home more appealing to buyers just takes a little extra attention and short-term inconvenience.

-Peter

www.NashvilleCityHomes.com
REALTOR. City Home Specialist.