Before you put your home on the market, your real estate agent will recommend that you stage the property. Staging your house can make it more appealing to potential buyers and help it sell faster. You’ll have to figure out what to do with items that you remove as part of the staging process.
Why and How to Stage Your House
Your agent will advise you to declutter your home and remove personal items. Getting rid of clutter will make the house look cleaner and more spacious, and depersonalizing your home will provide more of a blank canvas and make it easier for potential buyers to imagine their own families living there.
Figure out What to Take to Your New Home and What to Get Rid Of
Look at the staging process as an opportunity to take stock of what you own and figure out what’s worth keeping and what you can do without. Purging unneeded and unwanted items can keep your moving costs down.
Since you’ll have less to transport, you’ll be able to rent a smaller moving truck, and it won’t take the movers as long to load and unload it. Paring down your possessions now will also make it easier to arrange your belongings once you arrive at your new home.
Decide What to Do With Things You No Longer Need or Want
You’ll probably have several items that you don’t want to keep, but that are still in good condition and might be useful to someone else. You can donate old clothes and household items to a charity or offer some of your belongings to family members and friends.
Another option is to have a garage sale or sell unwanted items online. You might be able to earn enough money to cover the cost of a moving truck or some new furniture.
Rent a Storage Unit
You won’t want to get rid of family photos, your children’s toys and artwork, and all the odds and ends that you remove to stage your house. If you don’t have enough space to pack them away in your attic, basement, or garage, you can rent a storage unit. You’ll be able to keep those personal belongings safe in a climate-controlled environment until you’re ready to move.
Approach Staging in a Strategic Way
The process of staging your home can feel overwhelming, but tackling it in an organized way can make things easier. As you go through each room, identify items to remove and designate separate areas for things that you intend to discard, donate, sell and put into storage.
