The phone rings, your real estate agent is on the other line with a
prospective buyer! Oh no, the house is a mess! You throw everything on
the living room floor into the living room closet, all the toys in the
kids rooms end up under the bed, all the dirty clothes in the laundry
room up in the cabinets. You run out the door with the satisfaction that
your house looks great. Now all you can think about is the potential
offer you�ll receive soon.
Here comes the agent. This poor, unsuspecting soul has done her best to
round up as many buyers as she can to help you sell your home. She is
excited because this one seems like a good candidate. Your house is
exactly what this buyer has been talking about for a week. They are
about to take a private tour. The key word there is private.
These people who are going through your home are not going to just walk
from room to room. They are going to open cupboard doors. They will peek
inside the medicine chest. They will open every door and built in drawer
there is in the house. After all, they will want to see what they are
actually buying. They will want to know how much space is in the
kitchen. They will want to know if their things will fit in the closets.
When you put your house on the market everything is an open book. People
will be walking through with a fine tooth comb to see what the house has
to offer. This means looking in places a guest would not even go near.
There are some things you should do to prepare your home for the people
who will be coming in during the showings and open houses.
The first thing you should do is pack up anything in any of the closets
which are not necessary. Put them in storage, whether it is in the
garage, basement, or even a storage unit. You will want to put away
anything you will not need. This will make the closets more roomy and
appear larger.
You will also want to clean out clutter from built in drawers. Again,
box up what you do not need. There are some bedrooms which have the
added convenience of built in drawers. Some people keep very personal
items in these drawers. Anyone who is interested in buying your home
will be looking in them. If you do not want things seen then move them
to an appropriate place where they will not be found.
Many good real estate agents will tell you to prepare your home so that
anyone walking in can imagine their possessions in the space. This means
removing any personal items like family pictures. You will want to make
the house appear as neutral as possible. This can let the potential
buyer to see the house and not the decorations. They can envision how
the rooms will look when they are in the home.
By packing up what is not necessary will help you when it comes time to
move. You will have many of the things in the closets and drawers
already packed. This makes it so much easier to not leave anything
behind. You can also keep away from any embarrassment when people start
looking behind closed doors.
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