Most sellers are highly embarrassed when I ask to see their closets, and personally, I wouldn’t want anyone to look into my closets either. When you are getting your house ready to sell, cleaning out the closets is an important step, but it doesn’t need to be difficult.
Here is a step by step guide to getting your closet ready to show:
1. Don’t panic. While you probably have many closets in your home, there are only a couple that matter; your master bedroom closet (no matter how small it is), your entryway or mudroom closet, and your kitchen pantry (technically a closet). While the buyer may check out your other closets as well, don’t focus on those, just make sure nothing will fall on them when they open the door.
2. Start with the floor. I give this advice even with small rooms, the cleaner and more open the floorspace, the larger the room will appear. You do not want much on the closet floor. Take everything out of the closet that is on the floor, and decide sparingly what will go back in. You will be starting with the floor and working your way up.
3. Start packing. Anything that you are not going to use TODAY or THIS MONTH, needs to be packed away and removed from the closet. You are moving, you may as well get a head start on the process and start packing now. This is also a good time to start getting rid of clothes you don’t wear anymore and give them away. You don’t want to clutter your pretty new house with things you don’t even want anymore. Remove everything and start sorting and packing.
4. Make Repairs. If the light fixture is hanging down, or the closet rod is held up by duct tape, this is the time to make any repairs necessary. This should not take long. If your walls are completely a mess, or if you are moving out and the closet will be empty, you will need to paint. In most cases painting is not necessary.
5. Stage the Closet. When you are done packing and giving things away, you will probably still have a good amount of clothing left. Do the best you can to arrange things to look neat. If you have sweaters on the shelf, make sure they are neatly folded. DO NOT have anything hanging on the entrance door to the closet, you don’t want things swinging and hitting the buyer. Remember to keep the floor as bare as possible.
6. Finishing Touches. If you have an exceptional closet, like a huge walk-in or pantry, get some cute baskets or mirror that buyers will remember. We are trying to help create a feeling, and help the buyers fantasize about living there, so help them remember how wonderful the space is. If your closet is not that special, it’s ok, you just want to make sure it is neat and organized so it does not become a red flag to buyers that you don’t have enough storage space.
7. Safety Tip. If you have guns, jewelry, medications or other items that thieves target at open houses, please remove them from the house or lock them up.
Hopefully this won’t be more than an afternoon of work for you, and I promise, once you are done, you will wish you had done it a long time ago! As always, contact us for more information on selling your home and getting it ready to sell!
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