Guest Author - Katie Murphy

Being a Realtor®, I go in and out of a variety of homes each day and, during the course of my work, I meet many people with every personality you can imagine. Some of those people not only have personalities, but personality disorders as well. This is extreme and I am not suggesting anyone with the slightest bit, or even more than the slightest bit, of clutter has a personality disorder. I mention this only because, in the extremist of cases, being a pack rat will be a major obstacle to selling a home.

The most obvious problem that will obstruct the sale of a home is clutter. Most people have some amount of clutter because we have tons and tons of things coming into our home each day, such as junk mail, kid’s toys, projects, groceries, gifts, items to return to the store, recyclables, pictures, cosmetics…you get the point. It isn’t always easy to stay on top of the mess, but when you are selling a home, it is vital.

Even if you can’t really stay on top of the clutter, you can control it. Get rid of anything you can, but if you can’t bear to part with it, buy containers to organize it or hide it. If you must, throw it into a covered bin and put it in the attic or garage. If you can’t afford the plastic containers, just pick up some clean boxes at the grocery store and store them neatly on top of each other. Be careful not to junk up the garage or attic by stacking messy boxes.

Sometimes sellers say that people looking at the home will understand. They rationalize that most people live this way, so what is the big deal. Well, it may be true most people have some degree of clutter, but it is likely the buyer is looking for the ideal in a new home. Buyers want a home that will allow them to manage the clutter better. Perhaps they are looking for a bigger home or more storage space. Even if your home has significant storage space for them, the buyer will not visualize it if you have your clutter overflowing into the room.

Admit it, you want to sell your home because you can’t manage the clutter and, after you sell your home, you will be the buyer looking for that magic home that manages your clutter.

The take home message: Your pictures, kid’s paintings, old clothes that don’t fit any more, your great-great grandmother’s afghan and your husband’s college sweatshirt are sentimental to you, but the buyer sees a big bright red flag telling him/her that your home is not for them.

If you want to sell your home, throw it out, give it away, pack it up and clean it off. Sentimentality is great, but not when you are selling your home.