Jo Hall
Moving House? – 5 Reasons to Declutter First!
Updated: Apr 4
Faster Sale – decluttering will help your house appear bigger and more appealing.
Try to depersonalise your rooms as much as possible by removing family photos, notice boards and kids artwork. Potential buyers need to be able to imagine their furniture and belongings in your house and they can’t do that, if it’s full of your clutter. The RealHome.com article “11 ways to sell your home quickly” talks about “making your room's purpose obvious” and “putting clutter out of sight”. I'd take it one step further than that by saying, don’t just put the clutter out sight, go through it and get rid of what you can before putting your house on the market, if you don't, you're just putting off dealing with the problem.
Your potential buyer is not just buying your house, they're buying your lifestyle. If you want people to aspire to your lifestyle, this will only be possible if your house looks the best it possibly can.
A tidy, organised house will sell faster, saving you time and potentially money. If property seekers are not attracted to your house quickly, you may have to drop your price in order to sell.
Fabulous photos – if you want to give yourself every opportunity to get your asking price fast, then you have to attract interest with the one thing that impacts upon almost everything else – the photography of your home. 92% of homebuyers start their search online, and, if your photographs are not up to scratch, the house will be completely overlooked. Quality photos get potential buyers through the door - first impressions are essential. The only way to get great photos, is to declutter first. By doing this, it's easier for you to add the finishing touches and the photographer has the best possible canvas to work from. Tips from specialist property photographer Debbie Gobbett include: paying attention to lighting both natural and artificial by opening blinds or curtains and leaving doors open between rooms so that light flows; plumping up the cushions on sofas, using curtain tie backs, adding a throw onto a bed to add some styling to the shoot; mowing the lawn and putting bins and washing lines away. If you have a large property with extensive gardens or in an interesting setting, then you should consider elevated or drone photography, as this will showcase your property.
Lower Removal Cost – the less stuff you have, the less you'll have to pay to move it! Don’t start getting quotes from removal companies until you have decluttered, as they will base their quotes on the volume of items that have to to be packed up, and removed from each room. According to reallymoving.com, clearing out unwanted possessions in advance is “a simple and effective way to immediately reduce removals costs”
Easier Unpacking – the less you move, the less there'll be to unpack! Unpacking will be so much quicker and easier if you get rid of all the things you no longer use or need first. It's so much more satisfying to be able to focus on finding a new storage place, only for those things that you really want in your new home. New Home, New Start! To make optimum use of your new space, consider using the services of an Organiser to help you unpack and decide on the best place for your things to go. When Less Is More unpacked a client’s kitchen, leaving her free to focus on the rest of her house, this is what she said: “to have a functional kitchen in the midst of chaos, is a complete lifesaver. It has made so much difference to the entire family to have this space sorted.”
Space Creation - can decluttering create the extra space you need – do you love your house but feel as though you’ve outgrown it? Are you sure it’s not big enough or are you just trying to fill it with too much stuff? Declutter first and maybe you won’t need to move. Moving house is very expensive, according to comparemymove, the estimated cost of moving house in 2019 in the UK is £8,885.66. This figure is based on the average UK property price in 2019 and includes all the necessary fees you will need to pay for a successful move.
What else could you be spending that money on?
This article has been written as a collaboration between LESS IS MORE and
For more advice on photographing your property contact: Debbie Gobbett at Press Play
Jo Hall is a Berkshire based Declutterer & Organiser
If you would love to have a really good sort out but don't know where to start, or maybe you've made a great start with it, but have since lost your way, Jo can help!
Jo works with clients in person (locally) 🏠 and remotely 👩💻 anywhere in the World, on all types of decluttering & organising projects, as well as having DIY online resources available. Please do get in touch to fix up a no obligation chat: Less Is More
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