Effective Ways to Detach from Your Home When It’s Time to Sell

December 4, 2014

You‘ve lived in the same home for ten years. Your furnishings fit every nook and cranny. You know the neighbors and all of their quirky habits, but now it’s time to sell your home. How are you going to detach from your home when it’s time to sell?

Everything you’ve read tells you that you will have to reduce the number of items in your current home to sell it. You start rationalizing, “I can’t give that elephant jewelry box away because my Uncle Louie gave it to me. I paid good money for all of those clothes I have bought over the years. Even though I don’t wear half of them, I still want them. I’ll just leave all of my belongings where they are while selling my home. It will be too much of a mess to sort everything out now.”

Selling a home and moving to another one can be challenging if your home doesn’t capture a home buyer’s, heart. Most buyers are turned off by a lot of clutter in a home. They expect to walk into a spacious open home so they can see what features your house has to offer their family. As the seller, you need to ensure that your home reflects this look even though you may have attachments to sentimental items.

To detach from your home, remember that you are not your stuff; you are more than your possessions. Your memories are within you, not within your things. Holding onto things can imprison you. Letting go of stuff can be freeing. Once you start removing your excess items, you will start to detach from your home when it’s time to sell.

If something is sentimental, take a photo of it to remember it. Old photos can be scanned. An item that is sentimental for you may be useful for someone else. Sort miscellaneous items and furniture into three piles; one for donating, one for selling, and one for the trash. Concentrate on decluttering one room at a time and start before your home is placed on the market.

Although you may have good friends in your current neighborhood, think about all of the new friends you will make in your new neighborhood. You’ve already bonded with your neighbors here whom you didn’t know at first and will be doing the same thing again in your new home.

Consider all of the new opportunities you’ll have in your new location. You could start researching online what that area has to offer in the way of schools, churches, restaurants, cultural centers, shopping, medical centers, jobs, clubs, and civic and volunteer organizations. Develop the mindset that change can be a good thing and it will help you detach from your home when it’s time to sell.

RED BARRINUEVO

REDESIGN4MORE Inc. Home Staging & Interior Decorating

Toronto-based, award-winning Interior Stylist, Red Barrinuevo is an Interior Decorator and Principal of Redesign4more, servicing clients in Toronto and the GTA. The firm’s known for enhancing and creating stylish yet functional spaces through their creative home staging, interior styling, & design services.

Click here to know more about Red Barrinuevo and Redesign4More.