Detaching During Selling
One of the hardest things for a home buyer is to detach from their home. As a person who feels that connection to the space that I live in, I absolutely understand. When I had to move from my first home; the home that I brought my first born to, cutting the emotional ties was the hardest thing. Much harder than simply cleaning out the closets.
Here are some tips to make the process less painful.
1. Document your space
Photographing your space with do a few notable things for you. Having a record of the space that you love will allow you to feel as though you can look back at the home and remember all of the things that you love about it and the memories that you had within those walls. I often regret not doing this with my first home, but over time, I have been able to compile a catalog of photos that serve this purpose, however it was a long process.
Documenting the space will also provide you with a good point of view to do a critique of your space for selling. It is always easier to view a photograph of your space with a bit more scrutiny than in day to day observation. If you are staging, everyone loves a good before and after!
2. It isn't about you (or me), it's about the sale
After documenting your space and making the decision to sell, it is best to view your home as a hotel that you have to clean. You are living in a space, that you pay for, but really doesn't belong to you anymore. If a hotel needs to rearrange furniture, that is OK and the same holds true for staging your home. The goal is to appeal to a broad range of buys and get a fast sale for the highest price. With each move of the couch or fresh linens on the bed, you are increasing the appeal to buyers. If you use a stager, or are preparing your own home, it may not be to your style or taste and that is OK. It is about the sale and how the buyer will feel. For example, I have never had a beige wall in a home that I have lived in, because it is not my taste. That said, they are appealing to buyers (even me), because it allows people to focus on the space and not the paint. I may personally LOVE your bright orange wall, but the reality is, that it may limit your buyer pool.
3. Remove precious heirlooms and family photos
Packing up the most precious pieces will allow you to begin to see your home as less personal, which you would be doing to stage the home, anyway. Valuable objects that you are worried about leaving in the house, should be removed at this point.
It may be helpful to do this before you consult with a stager. The stager will inevitably tell you to depersonalize and that can be hard to hear because, let's face it, we all love our stuff. If you didn't love it, it would not be in your home. With the very personal items removed, it sets up a more pleasant experience for you as well as the stager. No stager likes to tell you to remove all of the childhood artwork from your refrigerator, but we will.
Home staging has become an interesting mix of design, real estate and with a touch of therapy. Detaching from homes and precious things is a challenge, but with the right mindset and focus on the goal of "SOLD", it can be a positive experience. Styled Spaces & Color is here to help!
