Howard County Home Sellers – The 5 Best Uses of Your Time and Dollars – #1 – Decluttering (Cost: $0; Return: High)

Really, you’re going to have to pack up your Howard County home sometime in order to sell it, so start now.

We’re getting ready to market your home, and your intention is to sell quickly for a good price.  We want to make sure everything possible is done to attract buyers, so let’s get started.

Room by room, what do you want to keep?  What is ready to go to someone else?  Need resources?  Call me.  Craigslist, Freecycle, Vietnam Veterans of America, Lupus Foundation, I’ve got lots of contacts for you.  If you’re don’t love it and you don’t use it, let someone else have it now, rather than packing it up and moving it to your next home with you.

Remove family photos, heirlooms, fragile items and pack them now.  I’ve shown houses to lots of buyers who peer into the photographs, wondering about the owners, trying to sort out who they are and what their story is.  Help the buyers stay focused on the house itself, thinking instead about how they would use the space and the layout, and where their furniture would fit in the rooms.  We want them to be able to picture themselves living here.

Pack at least half of: your books, your linens, your kitchen appliances, your plastic storage containers.

Pack ALL of:  your knickknacks, your family photographs, any draperies, chandeliers, or other attached fixtures that you’re taking with you to your new home.

Pack or put away:  everything on the kitchen counter.

Remember:  every bit of this sorting and pre-packing will make your move go more smoothly later on!

Consider renting a storage unit.  Less furniture in the house is usually good, again, making it feel more spacious.  And all those boxes you’ve pre-packed will have a place to go as well.  Attic or garage full?  If you don’t have time to sort through it all now, at least get it into the storage unit until you have time.  You can order pods delivered right to your house, fill them, and then have them picked up and taken to storage, so that you don’t have to rent a truck and move everything from one location to another.  That way, you can move onto your next step!

Best regards, Gretchen

• Did You Know?  A professional stager is an awesome investment at any point in this series.  Call me today at 443-676-1625 if you’d like to receive a FREE home staging consultation with a professional home stager. (Limited time offer.)