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Real Estate

2007-04-01 09:49:00

Depersonalizing your home

What does “depersonalize” mean in selling my home?

Let’s look at this as if you were a buyer. When you’re out in the market looking for a home to buy, and you’ve seen several homes and said “no, I don’t think so” to each of those you’ve seen, what was it that caused you to turn down those homes for consideration? It could be that they all had just awful floor plans or layouts, or it might be that they felt smaller than you like due to the way the walls between rooms are arranged. Or it’s quite possible that there are other things that are contributing to your viewpoint that are not as readily apparent. Let's say you walked into one of the homes and spotted a collection of bowling trophies on the mantel, a large number of family photographs, ranging from formal to outdoor playful group shots, cameo shots from your last family vacation, pictures of the family pooch, and other personal items. What happens to you and the other potential buyers when they spot these items? Well, they're distracted. They focus on the clutter and not on the layout of the home and its architectural advantages. If they've viewed several homes that day, they have trouble remembering which house was which. More importantly, buyers may have trouble imagining their own personal items in the same setting because the home is so obviously an expression of the family members lives of its present owners. But of course, personal items are still there, you say. The owners still live there, so why not? The catch is that when a home is placed on the market for sale, it's no longer the home of the present owners. It's a property to be sold. It must be depersonalized in every way…so that the prospective home buyer can see how his or her family pictures and décor items might work with the spaces available in that home. The main reason for you to depersonalize is so that potential buyers can "see" the home as it will look with their own possessions. Not yours. De-cluttering is a great word too. It means to remove all furniture and other décor items that are not actually a benefit to the needs of the family presently living there. Anything at all that will detract from the buyer seeing his/her own stuff placed in that space. The corollary advantage to this program is making the home feel so much larger than it feels when it is filled to overflowing with too much stuff. If you question whether your home is cluttered, it probably is…to the eye of a potential buyer. Don’t take it personally, just get the house unloaded and make it feel more empty. If necessary, rent yourself a storage unit nearby so that you have a place to go with the extra stuff you need to remove to accomplish your goals of de-cluttering your home. Remember, your goal is to sell that home quickly and receive the absolute best possible price and terms in the deal. The title company, the lender, the appraiser, the inspectors, or no one else has a job to do if you don’t get this part done right so that a sale is possible on your home…More next month…