There are clean houses and there are show quality clean homes. The key difference lies in the amount of clutter the house has. When your home is being shown for sale, prospective buyers need to be able to imagine themselves and their belongings in your space. To reach this goal, you might need to dig deep and unearth your minimalist side.

Common Clutter Areas To Fix Up Before A Home Showing

Potential home buyers will be poking into all the areas a normal guest wouldn’t, so there is no hiding the kitchen junk drawer any more. Worse still, you are likely inured to the clutter in some areas of your house and may not think to de-clutter these spaces. So with this in mind, we’ve compiled a list of 6 places that usually are problem areas when it comes to showing your home.

1. Office space

Whether just a desk or a whole room devoted to your work-away-from-work, there is usually a certain amount of things laying around. While a clean desk may or may not improve your productivity, for home-showings sake you’re best to remove paperweights, extra pens, and even your family photos.

Make sure your paperwork is filed away before before prospective buyers walk through your home. If you need certain personal items out for inspiration while you work, be sure to clear out a spot in your desk drawers for their safe keeping during a showing.

2. Closets

Aside from making sure clothes are hung properly, or that the spare linen is folded correctly, you may not have given much thought to what your closets looks like. Do you have to carefully maneuver clothing off a jammed packed rod? Is the linen closet in order? Home buyers are looking for a space to grow in; if it seems like you can hardly fit your space, they may get the impression they won’t fit in your home either.

There are a few simple courses of action you can take to combat overfilled closets. You can donate the household goods and clothing you no longer use to your local thrift shop or charity.

Or, if you have clothes for all seasons in your closet, pack away the clothes you won’t be using any time soon. Same goes for seasonal linen. If you pack these items into containers and store them out of site, it can have two desired effects: One, your closets are neater and emptier; two, you can showcase a neat utilization of a hard-to-use space.

3. Bathrooms

A clean and clutter-free bathroom can leave a lasting impression of overall home cleanliness on a potential buyer.

Along with hiring a professional cleaner to get all the hard to reach corners, you will want to store away your personal items. Hair brushes, makeup and other products should be stored either in the bathroom drawers or under the sink.

To keep these items from jumbling together in the drawers (which potential buyers will likely open), you will want to invest in drawer organizers. Buyers then can see how you’ve utilized the space and get more ideas of how their own items will fit.

4. Kitchen

The counter tops are sparkling, but how are areas above and below their surfaces?

First, take a critical look at the outer surfaces of your cupboards and appliances. If there are magnets and papers pinned to the refrigerator or anywhere else in the kitchen, you’ll want to clear them away. Busy spaces make a place look smaller, and you never want to give the impression that the kitchen is cramped.

How do the insides of your cupboards look? If there are large and irregularly used appliances in them – like a fondue pot or griddle – remove them and place them in a container for storage out of sight. Cupboards can become a jumble of pot lids and souvenir cups, so be discerning when choosing to keep, organize or store your kitchenware.

Overall, you want as much clear counter space as possible. So if you have plants or other decorations, remove as many of them as possible so the potential buyer can see exactly how much space they are working with.

For more ideas on what to do with your kitchen, check out our earlier blog post: How To Set Up The Perfect Kitchen For Better Return On Your Park City Real Estate.

5. Garage

A garage can be a potential workshop, storage space, or where people actually want to park their cars. So that buyers can envision their ideal use of the space, you want your garage as empty as possible.

If this was your main storage area, you may want to rent a storage space. A little under stairs closet can hold items that need to be used but remain unseen. But after a point, if you can fill it beyond halfway, you’ll need to store the rest of your things in a rental facility.

6. Outside of house

Your front lawn is the first and last thing a buyer will see of your home. As seasons change and the snow pack melts, a landscaping team is a great investment to your outdoor property. They can clear away dead foliage and prep your landscaping for the spring and summer months. With a professional team regularly maintaining your lawn, you’ll never have to worry about a last minute showing coming to your home.

To get more information on how to boost your curb appeal, read 5 Tips for Anyone Wanting to Add Curb Appeal to Their Home.

With a bit of work, you can have your home ready to show whenever the realtor drops by and even get a head start on your upcoming move by packing away things you can live without for a short time. For more tips on how you can better show your home, contact Jensen and Company.