You have created great curb appeal for your home, refreshed the interior, neutralized the decor decluttered and done a deep clean to prepare your house for the market. But give your home some extra sizzle by staging your closets!
If you are truly wanting top dollar for your home don't forget to stage areas like closets, garages and basements. This can be the cherry on top of an already well-presented home. If every area is perfect watch the offers roll in!
What Organizing And Staging Your Closets Does For Your Buyers
Any closet in your home can benefit from staging, especially a bedroom closet. There is going to be a thought process that goes on in your buyer's heads as they view your home.
Sure the clothes fit in the closet above but it is overflowing and not well organized and kind of overwhelming to look at.
First thought... there's not much storage in this house, the closets are overflowing. The seller can barely fit their belongings how is all of my stuff going to fit!!.
Now an organized closet that has some extra space and is organized is going to leave your buyer thinking, I can be organized here there is plenty of room. There is light on the horizon for them.
It is all a matter of perception.
As a seller, you have some control over your buyer's perception.
A Word On Home Staging
Home staging, as I pointed out above, is about perception.
You may have your house set up the way you like it. But often the way we live in a home is not the way you want to present it to the real estate buyers.
Staging your home is not about decorating. It is about merchandising a home, highlighting the home's best features and downplaying the negatives of a home.
Home Staging At It's Best
Just this past weekend, I showed a smaller, beautiful, home that had lots of updates and was perfectly home staged. And the home staging was working on my client.
In particular, when we were looking at the bedrooms they were saying there was plenty of room and the closets were adequate...??!! I asked them what was missing.
No dressers. Nowhere in any of the 3 bedrooms was there adequate space to put a dresser without blocking windows, steam radiators or hindering the flow around the bed. And the tiny closets were paired down to about 10- 12 items of clothes. It looked beautiful and on the surface looked perfect.
But this is not the reality of how people normally live. The home staging had created a perception that the bedrooms had more room than they really had. And, it worked on my clients.
The house presented beautifully though. There was a lot to like. But in reality how does a couple share a small bedroom with one small closet and no dressers?
Tips For Staging Your Closet
-Attack each closet one at a time.
-Have the mindset you are going to pair down your closet by 40 to 50%.
-Start by doing a quick edit of your belongings that you know immediately needs to go.
-Now take everything out of the closet and culling out items. Have a getting rid of pile, a pile that you want to save but can be stored elsewhere and a keeping pile.
-Pack up any items one or more seasons out.
-If you haven't used it or worn it in the past 6 months consider packing or getting rid of it. Your moving and you will have to pack it in the near futur3e anyways. Get ahead of the packing by starting before you list your house.
Before putting everything back in your bedroom closet
-Think about a fresh crisp coat of white paint.
-Consider if your closet needs additional lighting. Battery-operated puck lights can be an inexpensive way to light up a dark closet.
Now that you have purged here are some great suggestions for staging your closet as you put items back into your closet.
-Use all the same hangers. A mish-mash of hangers will be distracting and look unorganized. Using the same hangers will make your closet look far more organized.
-Hang everything in the same direction. Uniformity gives the perception of organization.
-Group items by color. If you sort items from dark to light and in color groups your closet will look extremely organized and you won't distract the buyer. Take it one step further and once your clothes are organized by color sort by style within each color.
-Make sure you aren't crowding items that are in view. Show that there is a little extra space.
-Keep the floor clear. By not loading up the floor with items your closet will look more spacious.
-Anything that is stored in bins on shelves use opaque bins. Transparent bins are practical, but the mix of colors will make your bedroom closet look unorganized.
Getting Rid Of Clothes After Purging Your Closet
Many people today are mindful of waste. So think about how you can pass clothes on to the next person.
-Sell your barely used expensive clothes on a site like Poshmark. Convert some of your extra belongings to cash $$$$
-Consider selling some items in a consignment or thrift store. Thrifting is huge right now and maybe you can get some cash while trying to recycle.
-Pass it on to friends or family who might appreciate who might love to get some of your gently used items.
-Donate your unused clothes in good shape to any number of charities. And don't forget to get a receipt to use at tax time!
-Before you toss clothing that isn't in the best of shape think about cutting up and using it as rags around the house.
Presenting your home and particularly the bedroom is important. Take the time not only to stage your bedrooms but don't forget the closets!! Let you buyers leave thinking the home has plenty of closet space.
And, many of the principle here apply to other closets as well!
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