Preparring your home for sale in Palm Beach County-What to do BEFORE you list you house! (Part 4)
EDIT 
DONATE STORE HIDE
Getting ready to list your house in Palm Beach County? This is the 4th in a series of How to Prepare your home for sale; and hopefully you'll do this BEFORE you list your house. The first impression you make is critical, so I've outlined a series that will enable your house to compete in this market.
Here's what we've covered so far:
Step 1 Start to think of your house as a Marketable Product
Step 2 Begin to see your house through the eyes of a Buyer
Setp 3 Repair, Replace and ReFresh (CLEAN) everything in your house.
NEXT ON YOUR LIST WILL BE TO EDIT, DONATE, PACK OR HIDE THE EXCESS!
Keep telling yourself this: You are selling a house, the SQUARE FOOTAGE it has to offer, its ARCHITECTURAL DETAIL, its LOCATION. . . NOT your things. Your sofa, lamps, pillows, candlesticks, and mirrors are there to enhance the detail, NOT detract or distract from it.
This is the hardest step in the whole process. This is where being ruthless is a Good Thing! If you need to, enlist a family member or friend to help you decide what needs to go. Think Carrie Bradshaw sorting through her closet with Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte (Sex and the City for those of you without HBO or a DVR).
EDIT- You'll be moving soon so why not get a jump on everything. Go through every room, open every cabinet, stand in every closet and:
TOSS what you don't WANT
what you don't NEED
what you can't USE
what you can't FIT
DONATE-
Once you've decided what to keep, this is the perfect time to donate to your local agencies such as Goodwill or the Salvation Army. For larger items you can always try CraigsList.
PACK- This is where you can get a jump on your move. Pack the items that will be moving with you to your new home but that you won't need immediately. Once you do, you'll need to consider storing your boxes off-site, NOT in your 3rd bedroom or garage. Remember, the boxes will take up much desired square footage.
(*many local moving and storage companies are working with Home Stagers to provide an affordable way for homeowners to pack and store their furnishings until they move. Call me or your local Stager for more information.)
HIDE- That leaves you with your every day items that you really use and need. For these items, find a way to hide them when your house is being shown. You can find cute, inexpensive baskets and bins at Target or Bed Bath & Beyond that you can use to store items such as files or personal grooming items.
CLOSET-If your closet is packed with shoes all over the floor, shirts mixed in with your pants and boxes stacked in no particular order, then your buyer is seeing a closet that may not be big enough for his or her own clothing.
COMPUTERS- can't live with them; can't live without them. A home office is not only an "extra" in today's houses, but a necessity. Buyers don't just give this area a cursory glance, they're figuring out where to hook up their computer and printer. Pack up your personal papers and put them out of sight.
Do whatever you can to minimize and/or hide all of the tangled mess of computer cables.
If you have a bulletin board, remove the family pictures, invitations, etc.
GARAGE AREA: People DO look in your garage. South Florida does not have basements so extra storage area becomes even more critical for our Buyers. They will want to know how many of their 3+ cars will fit in the garage and what extra storage is available. Work benches and peg boards need to be straightened and cleaned just as if they were sitting inside the house.
BOOKSHELVES: Yes you have them, but can anyone SEE them. You will want to Edit this area. Do you really need access to all of those professional journals lining your walls? Place a few books etc on each shelf and call it a day.
In the "Before" view, Buyers saw things; whereas the "After" view actually shows a VIEW and bookcases.
So by now you have : 1.Realized your home is a marketable product
2. Learned how Buyers will view it
3. Cleaned and repaired everything in the house
4. Edited and packed up all unnecessary furniture and accessories
Stayed tuned for Part 5!!
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Kathy--This is such good information for all sellers to have before they pu their home on the market. You have a gift--a good way of presenting it. I will bookmark this series for future reference.