From family photos to sacred artifacts, the things that make you feel at home can take buyers out of the moment. Create a blank slate that lets them feel at home during a walk-through. These steps also help you move through what can be an emotional process of moving on.
Making a house a home is a personal process that brings the things that mean the most to you into focus in your space. What makes you feel warm and fuzzy may have the opposite effect on a potential buyer. Create a blank canvas that just about any buyer can envision making their own by moving aside personal items so buyers can make room in their minds for life in the home. Doing so has the added benefit of giving you the privacy and space you need during what can be a difficult process for some.
For Sale By Owner Tips
Help Them Picture Home
The things that make your home feel like home, particularly photos of your nearest and dearest, are precisely what can take buyers out of their own journey. Remove framed photos from your desktop, mantel, and walls to give buyers the blank slate they need to focus. Depersonalizing your home in this way gives buyers a chance to imagine themselves there.
Polarizing political, religious and art pieces can trigger adverse reactions. Put your personal preferences aside to allow potential buyers to visualize the space as their own.
Most of the time, putting photos away is the right move, but use your judgment: a complex photo wall, antique portraits or other decorative motifs that feature people may be OK. When in doubt, switch it out: trade in personal photos for neutral subjects like nature photography or abstract art, giving buyers a chance to picture themselves in the space, and giving you and your family some semblance of privacy as strangers make their way through your space during showings.
Stay Neutral
Ideally, home is a place where you can really be yourself. During the selling process, putting your personal preferences aside is key. Polarizing political, religious and art pieces can trigger adverse reactions in potential buyers, clouding their judgment on the property. From artifacts to wall hangings to literature, discern what might alienate potential buyers and stow it away for now.
Clear off fridge magnet collages, crayon drawings and piles of toys to create a neutral space that invites buyers to picture the space for their own families, whatever form that may take.
Child’s Play
From their handmade works of art to their colorful collection of stuffed animals, everything they do is precious…to you. Tidy up by clearing off fridge magnet collages, crayon drawings and piles of toys to create a neutral space that invites buyers to picture the space for their own families, whatever form that may take. Even if it invites pangs, paint over door frame height markings and other reminders of the years in your home. Aside from making space for buyers, this is an important milestone in your journey of moving on.
By depersonalizing and neutralizing your home, you create space for buyers to picture their own future there. In doing so, you’re also making this process easier on yourself as you prepare for your next chapter.
