How to clean up a home for sale and increase its value

Ground Zero: Getting started when you don’t know where to start

For the first Apollo mission using the Saturn V rocket, the total fuel for the entire mission is about 55% to travel the first 0.03% journey. The remaining 45% of fuel pushed the spacecraft more than 230,000 miles (more than 99% of the total distance) to land safely on the moon.

Literally, getting started is more than half the battle.

As you approach a house full of things, the prospect of getting it to a clean, ready state seems as inaccessible as reaching the moon. Before you start your compilation journey, follow this pre-start list:

1. Clear your time range

The first step is to determine the time frame you have to sell your home in order to work backwards and set appropriate, easy-to-manage goals to solve the job.

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), a market for about 27 days was listed on the market before signing a contract, ice mortgage technology reported an average of 42 days, and buyers could close their home loans. Use this data for a sample schedule, if your goal is to sell your home within 90 days, you may only have two to three weeks to prepare for the home to sell to meet this deadline.

2. Break down work into small, implementable blocks

Rather than putting the task into ordering the entire house as a huge project, sort it out like dozens of achievable tasks. Metten advises: “If you feel overwhelmed, focus on one room at a time, or even one space at a time.

For example, a three-bedroom two-bathroom home can be divided into 20 bite-sized blocks:

• 3 bedroom closet
• 3 bedrooms
• 2 bathrooms
• 1 linen closet
• 1 kitchen (kitchen and drawer)
• 1 kitchen (cabinet and surface)
• 1 dining room
• 1 entrance/coat closet
• 1 living room
• 1 family room
• 1 laundry area
• 1 utility closet
• 1 downstairs storage room
• 1 car garage (storage area)
• 1 car garage (main area)

3. Write a crossed list

Now that you know your schedule and have broken down the task into bite-sized chunks, you can create a time-limited checklist to guide you and stay on track. For example, if you have 20 days to organize a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home in the example above, you can complete one per day in each of the 20 areas next to each day.

Several studies have shown that writing and examining target behavior can significantly improve productivity. Furthermore, regular and consistent examination of short-term goals has been shown to release dopamine, which increases the desire to continue to check more items on the list.

4. Manage your expectations: The house should be considerable, not perfect

Now that you have the list and are ready to go to work, pause and breathe quickly. At this stage, too many eager sellers dive in hopes of bringing the house to a New South Wales-like one. According to Nash, the goal is to “make the house present, first with a photo, then with a display.”

Similarly, Metten’s pressure is “buyers want to see a comfortable and living house here, not space or too sterile.” Ultimately, this is good news to help you focus on your goals.