Things To Remove From Your Home Before An Open House

When you've listed your home for sale, it's an exciting and nerve-wracking time as your first open house approaches. This opportunity for people to extensively tour through your home will hopefully make someone fall in love with what they see — and result in a purchase offer presented to your real estate agent in the near future. In the days leading up to your open house, it's a good idea to not only give your home a thorough cleaning, but also remove a handful of items that won't be helpful during the open house. Here are some suggestions.

Excessive Personal Items

It's OK to leave some family photos and other personal items on display, but do so only in moderate amounts. If your home is absolutely filled with personal items, such as photos and artwork and crafts from your children, for example, it's worthwhile to remove these things. A home that seems too personalized to one family can be challenging to sell because people visiting the open house might have trouble viewing the home as theirs. When you remove the bulk of your personal items, the home will seem less like yours — giving prospective buyers a chance to imagine their photos and artwork on the walls and the fridge door.

Distracting Components

Some homeowners have art, statues, furniture, or other large items in their home that they love but that are unique enough to be distracting. When people tour through your home, it's easy for them to focus on these distracting components — and this can take away from their ability to evaluate the rest of your home. For example, you might love your full-sized knight-in-shining-armor mannequin in the living room. However, taking it away for the open house provides less of a distraction for prospective buyers.

Excessive Clutter

While decluttering your home is an important part of cleaning it in advance of your open house, going through each room and removing items that you absolutely don't need is worthwhile. When a home is cluttered, it can feel small and cramped. For example, while you might enjoy having an extra chair in your living room to accommodate guests during your frequent family get-togethers, the chair is cutting down on your floor space and can result in the room feeling smaller. Make sure to thoroughly evaluate each room and decide if it contains more items than it should, and then remove them before the open house.