subject: Do Not Distract Potential Home Buyers With Clutter In Your Home [print this page] Nobody enjoys moving, not really, but the truth is that organizing and packing up some of your household items in advance can speed up the moving process when you sell a house. Not only are your boxes neatly packed and stacked for loading onto the truck when moving day finally arrives, but you will have a tremendous advantage when taking photos and showing your house. Sorting through, packing and labeling things to take to storage can actually put you in the best position to sell a house when you're competing with so many other sellers in a crowded marketplace.
Reducing clutter inside and outside your home is a time-honored secret of decorators and real estate agents who routinely "stage" expensive houses for sale. If you are wondering why anyone would go to all the trouble to pack and store up to half of his or her possessions before locating a buyer, just keep on reading. In this article I will explain the reasons.
Basically, buyers don't want to be distracted from seeing the space just the way it is, and more importantly, they don't want to be distracted from their own mental process of picturing their possessions in your house. When prospective buyers take a tour, they are not only seeing what you see, they are seeing their own mental pictures. We don't want to do anything to interfere with that process, because that's where it's all happening when you sell your house. Everyone has his or her own idea of decorating and using a space, and people really want to see more of their own ideas and less of yours.
Despite the fact that everyone sees a space differently, meaning how a space could be used with different furniture and decorating, vacant houses do not necessarily show better. I have shown vacant houses many times, and that's how I learned the "staging" secret myself. Now I consider using a few carefully chosen pieces of furniture, lamps and wall dcor when I sell a house. It can really make a difference in the photos I post online and also in the reaction of prospective buyers when I show the house.
This suggestion is based on watching hundreds and hundreds of people look at houses for sale and listening to their comments over the years. If you remove some of your possessions and take them to a storage facility to sell a house, you will have a great advantage over other houses for sale. The truth is that buyers are only interested in their own personal perspectives, so give them the space they need for their own perspectives and you will have success when you sell a house.
