Learning to organize your home is crucial during residential staging, since clutter will ruin even the best property staging efforts. Organization is a simple part of a complete aesthetic makeover for any property and can be completed by professional stagers, but is easy to do as part of a DIY home staging plan, as well. Organizing does not take too much time, but may involve some creative thinking and some considerable sweat equity, especially in homes with large amounts of excess personal possessions.
This article will provide some ideas how to best organize the interior and exterior of your home, prior to listing it for sale on the open real estate market.
Organize Your Home Interior
The interior of your home should never be cluttered. Too much stuff provides the perception of not enough space to potential buyers. This includes open and obvious areas of the home, such as the living spaces, as well as dedicated storage area, such as closets. Here are some ideas to get you on track with your indoor organizing efforts:
I always recommend packing up everything which is not part of the staging design or absolutely necessary for day to day life. This is progress towards your eventual move. These possessions can be stored neatly in the home, if plentiful space is available, but are best moved to a dedicated off-site storage facility.
Organize closets using space savers, closet organizers and any other solution which will maximize perceived space. Never clutter closets, since this will detract from the overall value of the home.
Clean out the kitchen cabinets to create more useable space and provide an airy feel. Move small appliances off the counter, leaving only a coffee maker visible.
Remove and organize personal toiletries from the vanity and bathtub areas. Store these items away in covered storage.
If you have kids, get them on-board by organizing and storing their toys away. No more leaving toys all over the floor can be tolerated anywhere in the house. Selling a home takes a family effort and this is a good time to enforce some basic parental rules.
Organize Your Exterior Space Also
The outside of the home must also be well organized for maximum buyer appeal. Here are some ideas to get you started towards this goal:
Always clean up the yard and neatly place tools and garden supplies in the shed or garage. Never leave the yard or walkways cluttered with toys, tools or worst of all, garbage.
Organize the shed or garage with shelves and covered storage. Do not clutter these areas or move everything from the interior of the home to these storage areas. A cluttered garage is a big buyer red flag.
Organize the landscaping features, by removing any plastic lawn ornaments or other taste-specific items and removing old and dead plants and shrubbery. Clean out the flower beds and make sure the yard is clean and beautiful.
Organize Your Home Easily
Decluttering your home is one of the easiest and most vital of all home staging strategies. Clutter is one of a seller’s biggest enemies and can reduce the perceived value of your home drastically. Simply cleaning and organizing the house or apartment can increase the asking price by 10% or more in some cases.
Do not allow prospective buyers to see your home in a “lived in” condition. It is far better to organize showings when the home is looking its showroom best and even better to keep it that way around the clock, just in case a buyer wants to come on short notice. Although this seems like a lot of work to manage, it is actually quite easy to do, once most of your personal possessions have been organized and removed to storage.
