When prospective buyers walk through your home, they want to imagine living in it. They want to picture their holiday parties in your living room or afternoons baking cookies in your kitchen. They want to think about how their desk will look in your office or how their bedroom furniture will look in the master suite. The better potential buyers are able to visualize themselves in your home, the more likely they are to purchase it.

Unfortunately, clutter can cause problems when it comes to selling your house. While you might think potential buyers will overlook your personal belongings, the truth is they usually won’t. Clutter will make visualization difficult for them, so people will be focused on your belongings instead of your home. Whether you have a large trinket collection, a personal library or your walls are covered in awards, it’s important to realize that de-cluttering your personal belongings can actually help you sell your house quickly. No matter how cluttered or full your house is, it’s possible to quickly minimize the amount of “stuff” potential buyers see when they walk through your house. You don’t have to get rid of your favorite things and you don’t have to become a minimalist in order to sell your house. All you need to do is de-clutter enough of your home that buyers will be able to visualize themselves, their family and their belongings in your house.

  1. Start in the main areas

Start at your front door and do a quick walk-through of your home. Bring along a notepad and a pen to take notes when you find problem areas. Look for anything that might draw your buyer’s attention away from your home itself. For example, when you walk in the front door, do you trip over a pile of shoes? Even if you leave shoes by the door out of convenience, buyers might think the house doesn’t have enough closet space. What about the kitchen? Do you have piles of junk mail on the counter? Did you know buyers might suspect your kitchen is too small to be useful? When you begin de-cluttering, focus on the main areas of your house where guests tend to congregate. These are the areas that matter most to potential buyers and that can make or break a sale.

 

  1. Don’t stuff your closets

For some homeowners, de-cluttering simply means shoving things in closets. While the main areas of your house might look cleaner, this doesn’t solve your clutter problem since potential buyers will be looking in your closets. Ideally, your closets should be only 30 percent full. This gives buyers the chance to see how much space each closet has, and once again, to imagine their own belongings in the closet. If you find the temptation to shove things in closets is too great, simply pack up your excess clutter in boxes and store it either in your garage or at a friend’s until you’re able to sell your house.

 

  1. Think about your goal

Finally, make sure you focus on your end goal. Sorting through clutter, cleaning your home, and staging your house for buyers can be emotionally exhausting. It’s easy to get overwhelmed when all you do is sort through your belongings. Many homeowners find they become frustrated with the amount of stuff they have accumulated over the years. Instead of getting stressed, try to remember your goal of selling your house. When you focus on your goal, it’s easier to handle the mundane tasks you have to accomplish first.

Selling a house can be a difficult endeavor, but de-cluttering will give you the best chance of success. Remember to start with one room at a time and to slowly work through your house until it’s ready to be placed on the market. The cleaner and less cluttered your home is, the more likely you are to have buyers who want to make it their own. Click here to get an instant estimate of your Lehigh Valley homes current value.