Whether you’re selling a house in the Lake George/Adirondack area, Capital Region, or elsewhere, decluttering the home will prove invaluable. Check out nine reasons to declutter the home before selling below, that range from a smoother transition for you when you relocate, to possibly even getting a better offer on the house.
See the Surprising Benefits of Decluttering for Sellers
1) The house will appear larger.
When you subtract items from the home, logic follows that the house will feel more spacious – with plenty of room for the new owner’s things. You don’t want the house to look virtually empty, of course. Appropriately sized furniture, strategically placed plants, and other details will enhance the appeal and livability factor of the home.
However, so will removing an unneeded coat rack from the entrance hall, or reducing the number of tote boxes in the spare bedroom closet from six to two. Open up that space!
2) Storage space can better be highlighted.
Speaking of boxes and storage, decluttering is a prime opportunity to showcase how great the storage spaces in your house are. Look how many toiletry items can fit in the linen closet in just a couple of decorative boxes, and there’s still so much room for towels, and maybe even a hamper at the bottom!
When closets, cabinets, countertops, corners, shelves, hutches, and more are overflowing with items of any kind, potential buyers will get the impression that your house doesn’t have enough storage space.
3) Moving will be easier later.
While the majority of reasons to declutter that are outlined here correspond to selling your home, this is one of the outliers. It may not have to do with what sale price you and a buyer agree on, but decluttering does make moving easier for you later on.
When you do eventually move out of the house, if you’ve decluttered, there will be less to move. What you are moving will be better organized, and the whole process should run smoother than it otherwise would.
4) Potential buyers will better be able to imagine themselves in the home.
Here’s where the depersonalizing part of decluttering can come into play. When decluttering, remember to remove family photos and college degrees from the walls, children’s artwork from the refrigerator, and sports memorabilia from the living room or basement.
These are not items to permanently remove, of course (in most cases!), but now is the time to organize and pack them away for moving later – or at least remove before a realtor brings someone to tour the house. You want the home to appear like a blank slate for this next family’s personal tastes, accomplishments, and preferences.
5) The process paves the way for home staging.
Decluttering is a big part of home staging, which is an aspect of selling a home I always recommend, particularly as a Certified Professional Stager. Impressive stats from the International Association of Home Staging, the National Association of Realtors, and others support the notion that home staging has a direct correlation with selling your home faster, and for more money.
Read more about why you should stage your home before selling >>
6) You (and the house) will make a great first impression.
Technically, the curb appeal and the outside of the house is the first impression buyers will have of the home (in person, anyway). And yes, you do want to declutter the outdoors as well as the inside. Remove any children’s or pet’s toys or pet feces, sweep or shovel the walkway depending on the time of year, and remove what you can from the front porch. Well-maintained furniture and healthy, seasonal plants are okay!
Then, once that potential buyer walks in the door that is free of fingerprints and smudges, they’re going to get an immediate sense of how big the house is and how well you’ve taken care it.
7) Potential problems may be identified.
Foundation flaws, mold growth, pests – even leaking pipes and plumbing problems can all be revealed when you declutter the house. While it may be unpleasant to discover a family of mice have been living undetected in the basement you just cleaned out, this is something to know before you put the house up for sale.
Depending on the repair or issue that needs to be resolved, you can either proactively take care of the problem, or disclose it to the potential seller so as to better price the home accordingly.
8) The perceived value of the home will increase.
If you’ve taken care of the small things, it’s more believable that you’ve taken care of the big things as well. When the potential buyer drives up to your home and sees the freshly cut grass and recently swept walkway, they’ll feel hopeful this home has been taken care of.
When they’re in the house opening your pantry and looking into your bedroom closet, and everything looks spic and span, they’ll feel even more confident that you’re the type of homeowner that has kept their gutters cleared, ensured the HVAC system is up to date, and made sure the hot water heater is running efficiently.
9) The possibility of a liability is minimized.
Here’s a reason to declutter the home before selling you might not have thought of: It will be way less likely that someone coming to look at the house will trip, fall, and sue you. That spacious front entryway and clear hallways that magically materialized when you decluttered serve more than one purpose!
Ready to Sell in the Lake George Region? Let’s Chat!
I provide free, expert home staging advice and tips to my clients selling houses in Lake George, Saratoga, and other areas in Upstate New York. I’m happy to work decluttering into our plan!
My honed skills in this domain of selling a house, combined with my years of experience buying and selling homes in this region, make me a top choice if you’re in the area and looking to sell.