With the dynamic Spring selling season upon us, many homeowners are asking me for guidance in preparing their homes for market. They key is that once you decide to SELL, you have to face the music, or you will have to STAY!
So, most know that Marie Kondo is the new darling of the tidy house tidalwave. BUT before Marie, there was Julie Morgenstern, one of the originals of organizational expertise!
She is amazing. Truly thought provoking and practical! Even better, one of her best concepts is so easy to remember, you will find it stuck in your head like “bringing joy” does for the Kondo folks.
This wisely crafted principle is the SHED concept for those of us who are STUCK and can’t seem to get going…
SHED means:
Separate-you must identify only those things that are truly worth keeping!
Heave-get rid of all the stuff that is weighing you down!
Embrace-the person you really are without all your stuff!
Drive-towards that person who is your true self!
This may sound a bit too contemplative for real estate, but it’s essential to consider when you’ve been in a home for several years and surrounded by, well you know, LOTS OF STUFF.
Once you’ve really dug into this and attacked closets, cupboards, pantries and garages, you can really focus on what your home actually looks like to prepare for setting the stage. The next step is to SCRUB your home from top to bottom, inside and out.
Melissa Wakamo talked about “What’s Your Color?” in her last blog that addresses an entirely separate, but very important component of selling. Just remember what my grandmother taught me back when I was a kid, “you are NOT supposed to paint dirty walls & woodwork”!!
We aim for the end result to be a photoready assemblage of vignettes that will have buyers salivating even before they set one foot in the house.
I want to end with a paragraph from one of Julie’s articles I saved:
“A Zen parable tells of a wanderer on a lonely road who came upon a torrential river that had washed out the bridge. So he built a solid & heavy raft, which carried him safely across to the other back. “This is a good raft,” he thought. “If there’s another river ahead, I can use it.” And he carried it for the rest of his life. How often do we hang onto things that served us well at one point in our lives but are no longer relevant or useful? Clutter is something that no longer serves you.”
HAPPY SHEDDING!
To set up a meeting, reach out to Steve Carpenter — 404-402-3143 / steven@redrobingroup.com.
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