Preparing Your Rhinebeck Home for Sale - 5 Must Do's Before Putting Your House on The Market - Part One

Let's face it, we are not always objective about our own homes!  We all tend to comfortable with our clutter,  we learn to "work around" things that need minor repairs (how many of us jiggle the handle to stop the toilet from running) and more often than not we have more "stuff" than we need around the house.

There are five generally accepted steps for preparing your home for sale.  Some people might call this "staging" and others just call it common sense preparation. What ever you call it, if your Rhinebeck home is for sale you need to prepare it to stand out from the rest of homes for sale in Rhinebeck.

The five steps that need to be done before you put the For Sale sign on your house are:

• Unclutter
• Clean
• Make repairs
• Neutralize
• Decorate simply for broad appeal

This post will cover the first step, Uncluttering.  Clutter is not only the things you use everyday or the things that don't seem to belong anywhere.  Clutter can be collections of all kinds.  You may collect inexpensive knick knacks, books, fine art work or Faberge eggs!  No matter the price range of your collection it is clutter to potential buyers. Your clutter and collections make statements about you that may impact a buyer's response to your home.


What effect does clutter have?

• Makes a room look smaller
• Distracts the buyer from the house because they focus on the clutter
• Makes flow through the house more difficult
• Can cause a negative emotional response to your home

I recommend uncluttering one room at a time. Do not move on to another room until you have completed the room you are working on.  Pack away items you are removing as you go along.  If you are under pressure to get your house listed and don't have time to pack the items then find a place in the basement or garage where you can store them temporarily.  You could put everything on shelves or get boxes and just stand the items in the boxes until you have time to pack them properly.  A neat trick for temporary packing is to get boxes from the liquor store that still have the cardboard inserts in them.  You can drop one item in each section to protect them until you have time to pack them properly.  

How to unclutter your house?

• Remove obvious things like shoes left around, jackets hanging on chairs, kids toys, old newspapers, etc.
• Go back and remove everything from the tables, bookshelves, windowsills (all horizontal surfaces).
• Choose a maximum of 3 items to be put back on each surface.  One larger item is better than several small ones.
• Remove excess pillows from couches and chairs, leave just a few to provide a color accent.
• Windows need uncluttering!  If you have blinds, sheers, panels and valences remove the panels, open up the blinds and push the sheers to the sides to allow maximum natural light into the room.
• Pick up scatter rugs to show off the floors and make the room seem more open and spacious.
• Remove all artificial and dried flowers.  Use one or two healthy live plants for color.

Once you have uncluttered the room enlist the help of the rest of the family to be sure everyone puts away anything that they have brought into to room before going to bed for the night.  If you don't get cooperation from your family :(  stash a laundry basket near by and throw everything into the laundry basket.  Take a quick trip around the house and return the items to their rightful owner with a request that they be put away!

Which rooms do you think buyers will prefer?


                       Kitchen Before                            Kitchen After






               Office Before                                                     Office After

These changes did not cost a penny!  It took about an hour to declutter the rooms, make the kitchen table smaller, remove a chair from the office and depersonalize.  

If you are selling your Rhinebeck home take a look around with buyers eyes and begin the process of uncluttering!