How to Depersonalize Your Home When Selling
Filling your Chatham-Kent home with momentos, photographs, and souvenirs will help you remember the amazing years you've spent with your friends and family, it won't however, help you sell your home. Depersonalizing your home before it hits the Chatham-Kent real estate market is one of the most difficult things you'll ever do, but it is a necessary part in the home selling process.
Potential homebuyers don’t want to see reminders of your family and friends when viewing your Chatham property. For the most part, they don’t even want to know that someone else has lived in a place they could potentially call home. This is why, when you place your home on the real estate market, one of the first things your Chatham-Kent realtor will ask you to clear out all of your keepsakes, and neutralize your home for a quick sale:
Pack away your personal photos: Photos are the first thing that needs to go when you place your home on the Chatham Ontario real estate market. Taking down your family pictures is a necessary step in packing, so why not do it before potential buyers stop in for a viewing? As visitors walk through your home during an open house or private showing, it’s not uncommon for them to spend more time looking at your pictures, and less time looking at your home. Sure, that picture of you holding a 5 pound bass at your cottage with your son is amazing, but homebuyers should be looking at your fireplace or crown molding, rather than your personal memories.
Paint your walls a neutral colour: While you might love your pink walls, or bright and vibrant wall paper, that doesn't mean that most home buyers will. Decorating your home to fit your interests and personality is natural, but when it comes time for resale, you need to be aware of what homebuyers want. Neutral colours make rooms appear larger and more open. They also allows homebuyers to picture what their décor and style would look like in a room. Chatham-Kent real estate agents will tell you, neutralize your home, and you're more likely to sell for the money you want.
Erase all of your accomplishments: After you've put away your photographs; trophies, certificates, and collectables must go. Your new home will welcome your past hockey, golf, bowling, or business accomplishments. Potential homebuyers don't need to, or want to, see these trophies or plaques. Decorate your empty shelves with books, and candles, rather than picture frames and certificates.
Knick knacks will scare some buyers away: Collecting trains, gnomes, or Santa’s may be your passion, but it can also camouflage the highlights of your Chatham-Kent home. Posing your finds in windows, on shelves, in the corners of your rooms, and across mantles makes your home look smaller, cluttered, and often, dirty. Pack them up, move them out, and find a spot in your new home to display your treasures. Keep collecting, keep enjoying yourself, but hide your passion when you sell your Chatham-Kent home.
Don't Dump it in the Garage!
It’s not enough to put all of your pictures, awards, and collectables in boxes and store them in your basement or garage. Remember, these are spaces you need to show off as well. If you do not already have possession of your new property, temporarily rent a storage space, or keep your boxes at a friend or family members’ home. These items can’t just be hidden; they need to be removed altogether.
As difficult as the depersonalization process can be, it's been proven to help sell homes faster. Take the advice of your Chatham-Kent realtor and de-clutter and depersonalize your home. If you need help staging your home for sale, or you'd like to talk about putting your Chatham-Kent home on the market, feel free to Contact Me or call me at 519-360-0141.