As a seller, you hear the same pieces of advice time and again.
“Never turn down a showing!”
“Get a good Realtor!”
“Do your best to depersonalize your home!”
That last one can be tricky; what does it mean to depersonalize a home you’ve likely occupied for years, and maybe even live in currently? At Creative Home Stagers we’ve had tons of experience helping sellers turn their homes into more neutral spaces, and it’s not as tough as you think.
Here are a few things you can do this weekend to depersonalize your home for sale.
1.Take Down Personal Photos
The absolute number one thing to start with during your depersonalization is the removal of personal pics. Particularly if you’ve got pictures of people or pets, storing them while your house is on the market is a good way to help buyers picture themselves, not your family, living in the home. The only pictures you can consider leaving up are those that aren’t inherently personal: landscape photos you took on your last vacation or close-ups of interesting architectural details, for example.
- Ditch Those Funky Paint Colors
You might not see your butter yellow kitchen as “funky,” but buyers might. Paint colors (and any prominently used colors, in general) can be polarizing, so if you have any doubts, invest in neutral paint. It might seem like a slight hassle to paint three coats of beige over that interesting striped wall in your kids’ room or to spend all weekend taking down wallpaper, but buyers will notice. The last thing you want people to be thinking about when they’re touring your home is how horribly their furniture will match that burnt orange accent wall.
- Put Away Your Tchotchkes
We love a good tchotchke as much as the next person, but too many knick-knacks can spell disaster for a seller. Try to see your home through a buyer’s eyes and scrutinize everything from your books to your religious artwork for signs of “personalization.” Collections are something sellers often have trouble storing because they feel a lot of pride, but they give buyers a very strong sense of your personal likes, dislikes, and interests. Removing many of your accessories won’t just depersonalize your home, it will also make the best features of the house itself stand out.
Don’t think of “depersonalizing” as a punishment…think of it as an opportunity! When you turn your home into a model home you create a blank slate for buyers to imagine themselves there; that kind of deeply personal dreaming is what gets you offers.
Need help staging your home for sale? Creative Home Stagers understands the wants and needs of buyers in today’s market and how you can meet them there. Give us a call today.