When it comes to staging your home for sale there are some do’s and don’ts to be attractive to potentials buyers. Remember if it comes with the house, it is fair game for the buyers to open it! Potential buyers want to know if there is amble storage in the closets and cabinets; some will only open a few and others will open everyone one them in the house. You must prepare for the person that opens them all.
Keep in mind, staging your house is not the same as living in your home. When selling, you need to merchandise your belongings and show the storage at its best. The most important storage is in the principal bedroom closet and the kitchen.
Here are some tips when preparing your home’s storage areas:
Purge/ pack/ donate your items while preparing your house for sale, by doing so you are paying yourself in time and money to do it; if you wait until the house is sold it must be done anyways and you may have lost either time or money by leaving your closets and cabinets overstuffed thus not showing the assets of your home at their best.
Save some room! Every person opening your closets, cabinets, bathroom vanities and storage rooms should think: IT IS NEAT, CLEAN, TIDY AND I CAN ADD MORE!
Make the room look bigger. Aim for nothing on the floor of a closet, you should be able to see the baseboard on all walls. By doing so the closet will show at its largest.
Don’t stuff the shelves. Shelves should not be stuffed, no pillows and comforters on top shelves of closets or in the linen closet, they give a feeling of top-heavy and/or too full. Pack them away!
Organize your clothes. Clothing should be organized by type and colour, one style/ colour of hanger and be able to move easily back and forth on the rod. This will often require some purging / packing of unused items.
What is in the closet has to make sense! Meaning do not have your slow cooker in the principal room’s closet. You are telling everyone there is not enough room in the kitchen for storage.
No make-shift pantries. Theses should not set up in the basement if these is not enough room in the kitchen. If you must have something, put all the items in totes and keep on the shelves. No one is looking inside the totes.
Don’t forget the small fixes. Make sure all handles are secure, doors slide and open easily, no squeaky hinges, all closets have doors; it is just some of the attention to detail that will give buyers a sense of a well-kept house.