what it is while it’s on the market. Pack and store your treasured items out of sight. Consider monthly rented storage units until your home sells. Make your home a clean, welcoming, blank canvas upon which any buyer can visually paint their own dreams. It will not feel like your home while you show the home, but once you sell and move into your next place, you can decorate that home any way you like. Remember to stash personal papers—especially financial documents—safely out of sight. It is understandably inconvenient to live in your home without your “stuff.” It’s like living in a hotel. However, it’s a necessary component of getting top dollar for your house. Extra furniture and items such as books, magazines, CD collections, and hobby supplies add weight and visual distraction in a room. Your salt and pepper shaker collection is going to look like clutter, even if the buyer collects salt and pepper shakers. The more spacious your home appears, the more appealing it will be. Minimize as much as possible. You want the home shopper to see what your home has to offer, not to guess about the potential or possibilities. Store what you need to keep, but consider discarding the expired coupons, week-old newspapers, political fliers, and other meaningless papers that seem to accumulate on every desk and countertop. You’ll be tempted to throw unwanted items in the trash receptacles but empty your inside and DECLUTTER AND DISCARD
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