tandem designs

Consider the clean-up prior to listing your home a great way to get started on packing up. Doing a little at a time but at a steady pace will inevitably ease any stress associated with moving and selling. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Think: the tortoise and the hare.

Your real estate agent is also a great source of information about the listing process and should be able to guide you through each step of the listing process smoothly.
Remember that the way you sell a home is not the way you live in one.

1) Clear the Clutter
A thorough home stager will be able to guide you through this step. (See an example right of a space as it was before the homeowner and I got to work).
You can get a jump start by packing (or downsizing) the items on bathroom and kitchen counter tops, magazine and newspaper bins, kitchen pantries and drawers, closet spaces, home offices, laundry rooms and patio spaces. Any personal collections should also be packed away.

2) Pack or Conceal Prescription Medication
Consider this also for open houses - it’s an unfortunate shame that there are folks out there who hop from one open house to another sneaking into cabinets and bathroom drawers looking for pills. Hide them.

3) If They Can’t See It, You Can’t Sell It
Replace all lightbulbs in lamps with 60 watts or higher and/or ensure that there aren’t any burned bulbs anywhere in the house. (See right - the same property mentioned above after staging).

4) Clean Air Filters
If you haven’t replaced your air filters in the last 6 months or more, now is the time to take care of this.

5) Maintain Houseplants or Give Them Away…
…and throw out the dead ones.

The bottom line is that some purposeful editing of things on your part beforehand will put you a world ahead later on.