Before you put your house up for sale, it’s time to look around and see what home improvements you can make in order to attract the most offers. For example, renting a storage unit and taking some of the items out of your home before putting it up for sale can not only make the move ultimately easier, but also make your house seem larger and more spacious to potential buyers. This list contains the top items to take out of your home and to put into storage for a successful sell.
1. Family Photos
You can start by looking around and removing family photos from the walls, from your end tables and elsewhere from your home. They might provide you with comfort and make your house feel like “home” right now, but they will not look good when you’re attempting to sell your home. After all, family photos can crack the illusion to potential buyers that this is their dream house- it can’t be a dream house if it’s already someone’s home! Plus, tucking your family photos away in storage is a good way to make sure that they cause security issues for your family or get lost or damaged.
2. Valuable Jewelry
If you are the owner of fine jewelry, you probably want to make sure that the family heirlooms do not get stolen or lost during both the showings and the move. Removing these valuable items from your home now can be beneficial in the long run. By placing them in a separate safe place — such as a storage unit or a safe deposit box at your bank — you potentially save both you and your family heartbreak down the road.
3. Pet-Related Items
If you have pets, it’s important to think about how they could impact your ability to sell your home. Cleaning up any pet messes or pet odors is a good start, and finding a safe place to take your pets when you’re showing your home can help a lot, too. Plus, removing pet-related items — such as dog kennels and crates — can help you open up your home and make it look, feel and smell a lot cleaner when you’re showing it to buyers.
4. Children’s Toys
If you have kids, you probably aren’t going to want to remove all of their toys before you show your home. However, if your kids have a lot of large toys, you may want to move some of them to cut down on the appearance of clutter. If your kids’ bedrooms are filled with toys, then you may want to go through them and donate, sell or store some of them before you bring people in to look at your home. Otherwise, all of those toys could make your home look smaller, messier and more cluttered than it actually is.
5. Excess Furniture
You will probably want to leave some of your furniture in the home for staging purposes when you put it up for sale. However, if your house is like many, there might be extra furniture sitting around that makes it look cluttered. That extra bookshelf or desk can make your home look cluttered and small, so consider moving any unnecessary furniture out of the way and into a storage unit until you sell your home.
You may need to start with moving some items out of your home before you even put your home up for sale. By moving some of these items into a storage unit, you can get them out of the way when you and your real estate agent are showing your home off to potential buyers. If you work with a real estate agent to sell your home, he or she can tell you about any other items that you might want to move out of your home and put into storage before you put it up for sale.
