Getting Organized for the Holidays
If your house is on the market this time of year, your probably feeling overloaded, and the added stress of keeping your home in show condition could break your holiday spirit. You might be tempted to take your home off the market for the holidays, but it will never sell if its off the market. You’re busy, with work, shopping, your kid’s pageants, holiday obligations, and entertaining, how do you do it all without going insane?
Face it, you need a plan, and so this week I asked Organizer extraordinaire Candita Clayton, from Your Life Organized; a Rumford, Rhode Island based expert whose business is helping people organize their homes and businesses.
If you were to enlist the services of Candita, she would personally come to your house, looking at your entire house and scrutinize all storage spaces as well as areas of concern, implement a plan of action, create a written to do list to get the house prepared for both selling and moving, and work with you until the job is done.
She has shared some good tips to help organize your home for the holidays:
1: Keep spaces as clear as possible. Remove old magazines and pack up books that are overflowing from shelves. Get rid of toy and kid clutter. Consider moving or storing furniture that may make the home feel small or overcrowded.
2: The seller can begin preparation for moving by starting to box up items that are not crucial for day to day living. This will give the house an uncluttered feel and reduce the work load later on.
3: Decorate with items that are important to your family’s holiday traditions but don’t overdo it. You want to give potential buyers the feeling that it’s a great house (but that it could be THEIR house where they would create their own memories) it can be overwhelming for a buyer to be confronted with too many personal objects.
4: Keep views clear. Allow potential buyers to view your property from all windows. This may mean changing the location of the Christmas tree or decorations.
5: Make closets as appealing as possible. The seller can do this by packing up all unnecessary items and making a few inexpensive changes to maximize space. Example: Add an additional rod for double hanging, hooks for handbags and accessories and shoe racks or shelves.
6: All storage spaces including the garage and basement should be organized and look their best. Buyers are usually interested in how there things can effectively be stored in a potential new home. A seller can make an investment in garage organizers or basement shelving that can be taken with them to their new home (or purchased by the buyer). These items can make a dramatic difference in the appearance of a home.
Candita has a great website at http://www.yourlifeorganized.com/
This week’s Real Estate Insight:
People who are willing to rearrange their holiday schedule to shop for a home in general tend to be motivated, serious buyers. When buyers are harder to come by, you have to work harder to attract their attention and do more to meet their needs: Because it is holiday season. Make sure your home is warm and inviting without going overboard, homebuyers want to imagine it as the setting for their own holiday celebrations.
This week’s Home of the week:
2 Guild Ave. Warwick, RI 02889. Click here for details.
December 1st, 2006 at 4:13 pm
I thought Candita’s ideas were good for everyone, not just people selling their homes. One way that I make the season less hectic is by shopping on line , and giving gift certificates, I went to yourlifeorganized.com, and got my messy sister a two hour consultation with Candita, if she can straighten out my sisters house, then she is truely the best, will let you know how it turns out.