Clearing the clutter.

Ask any estate agent and their top property selling tip will always be the same. A clean and clutter-free property will always sell faster than a dirty and cluttered one.

Lots of clutter will make your property look smaller which is the last thing you want when trying to show your home off. Viewers wish to see whether your property has ample space for them and their families to live in and enjoy. The presence of your belongings on every available surface and potentially even the floor can leave them put off by the state of the property rather than being attracted by its positive features.

So if you are thinking of or have already put your property on the market now is a good time to sort out your clutter. Here are my top five decluttering tips.

The One-Year Rule

If you haven’t used it for over a year then you probably don’t need it. Decide whether you need to keep it for sentimental reasons, whether it should go in the bin or whether by donating it to charity you are giving it a new lease of life and yourself some much needed space back.

Label three boxes Keep, Rubbish, Donate

Pick up every item in a room and decide which of those three boxes it should go in. Once the keep box is full everything else has to go either into the rubbish or donate boxes which may make you have a rethink about what you want to keep.

Throw away broken things

If you haven’t fixed it within a week then you are not going to. You probably don’t need it either if you have gone a week without using it and haven’t needed to fix it.

One thing in, one thing out rule

This rule helps you to stop clutter building up. The rule is simple. Every time you bring something new into your home you have to get rid of one thing that you already have.

Ask for help

Ask a friend or family member for help and spend a day decluttering and catching up. Tough jobs are much easier to do if you have help.

If the thought of sorting out all of your clutter seems a bit too much right now you could always rent a storage unit and move the bulk of it there ready to be sorted through when you feel up to it. That is a far better plan than having it laying around for a potential buyer to have to step over.

If you’re finding it hard to keep your house clutter free while it is on the market just keep reminding yourself that space sells, clutter doesn’t.

I am always happy to pop round and give you my advice on how you can improve your chance of achieving the best price possible for your property so if you’re looking for advice on selling your home in Bedfordshire or Buckinghamshire please feel free to give me a call on 01525 261100 and I will give you my professional and tactful advice!

'Til next time