Why Storing Your Items Is Important When Selling A House
Selling your San Antonio, Texas home can be a challenging exercise especially for those doing it for the first time. This is made even harder when there are multiple homes on sale in your neighborhood which means the competition is stiff and that your home may end up staying for months on the market it that you may have to lower the asking price. This makes it imperative to stand out from the competition. While some result in lowering their prices and selling below market value, the enlightened homeowners stage their houses to be outstanding in the midst of all the other houses. 
What does staging a house mean? Staging a house refers to the process of making your house more appealing to prospective home buyers. It involves downplaying and suppressing a house’s weaknesses and emphasizing the strengths and uniqueness of the house to appeal to the buyer.
Home staging can be done by the homeowner or by professionals, depending on just how much staging the homeowner plans on doing. It can be a simple cleaning to make every room sparkling clean to rearranging the furniture. It may also involve painting the house, redecorating it, or carrying out some minor repairs around the house. Most people however just declutter their house, which has a very big appeal to buyers. Most of the items that are just lying around in the closets and other storage spaces take up lots of space that make the house look cluttered, tine, and untidy.
Decluttering and why it’s important Decluttering should be the first step of home staging and it makes most of the other steps of home staging possible. For some people, it’s a simple process that takes a very short time because they have been gradually organizing their homes for years. For others, it’s one exhausting process as they finally have to deal with all the delayed home organization they have been putting off for years and the dozen unfinished projects which they locked away in a closet.
Whatever your situation, it’s important to declutter
Expose the beauty
Decluttering your house and storing most of your items brings out its real beauty and appeal. It gives the house buyer the chance to see the great spacious kitchen which had been made tiny by the many appliances you have. It exposes the fireplace that was hidden by the furniture in your living room and exposes the spacious closet that had been cluttered with the kids’ toys and appliances that don’t work. Storing your items when showing your house can end up making your house more appealing than a house that’s bigger and better than yours. This is because a cluttered house, no matter how beautiful it may be, does not reveal its true beauty.
Makes the house look bigger
The space in a house can’t be changed.
However, a buyer’s perception of whether a house is spacious enough can be influenced by how cluttered a house is. Houses that have very many items all hurdled together seem to be lacking in space, something that can be a turnoff for most buyers. Buyers assume that the reason all these items are hurdled together is that the house has little space and thus can’t accommodate them all. However, if your items are stored away and the space that’s vacated by these items is accessible to the buyer, he is more likely to purchase your house.
Makes the house appear clean
A cluttered house always appears dirty, even when the floors are sparkling clean. The dark corner of the living room which the house buyer can’t access because the couches are on the way appears to be hiding lots of dirt tucked away from the buyer’s eye. While this is usually not the case, this is what the buyer assumes. A cluttered house usually has dark places that are blocked from the light which also encourages many house pests such as rats and even cockroaches.
Gives the buyers an impression of the house as theirs
Most homeowners fail to understand that even though the house has been theirs for years, another person needs to get the feeling that this can be their home so that they can purchase it. A photo of your son playing soccer is beautiful as is a photo of your daughter doing ballet. However, the buyer feels alienated when the house still feels and looks like it belongs to you. A buyer needs to be able to visualize the house as theirs and to be able to see how his photos, his furniture, and his decorations would fit into the house. Takedown your art and other decorations from the walls even though it may be hard for you to do so as you’ve spent years making your house feel like a home. This will increase the appeal of your house and will appeal to buyers, fetching you a good price for your house.
Makes the buyer certain that you intend to sell
The real estate market is filled with people looking for a deal that’s good enough so that they can sell. These kinds of sellers are not sure they want to sell and are waiting for a buyer who can buy the house at a price high enough that they feel the need to move. These sellers put off most buyers and decluttering your house lets the buyer know that you are serious about selling your house.
Prepares you mentally for moving
For homeowners who have lived in a house long enough, moving is difficult. The emotional and sentimental attachment can make you have second thoughts about selling your house. Decluttering your house makes the process a bit easier as you get to start letting go of the memories. While selling a house in the current market can be difficult, decluttering your house and storing your items at a friend’s house or in your garage is the first step towards a successful sale. It is among the easiest steps you can rake and also the most affordable.
