Whether a necessary move arrives suddenly or you’ve got months to prepare, it’s always a possibility that you’ll have to move on to your next location before your previous home sells. The same sort of scenario can occur when moving an elderly loved one to be closer to you or to an assisted living facility.

If your house hasn’t sold for what you’d hoped in its time on the market (with you still in it), it’s going to be even more difficult to sell when it’s empty (unless you’ve been showing your house with it full of clutter or packing boxes — bad ideas, both!)

Tasteful furniture makes a house feel like a ‘home,’ and it’s wise to show your house with it furnished. But if you’re moving, do you have enough to leave behind to stage your old house that’s still on the market? And how do you decide what comes with you now and what goes?

First of all, there’s no need repeating what’s already been said on this blog. To stage your house, begin with the deep clean process detailed in this Boston Real Estate Observer post from last January.

Now you’re ready to decide what furniture will come with you to your new home and what will stay behind while the old house sells.

1. Decide Which Items You’re Getting Rid of Forever

A move is an excellent opportunity to take inventory of your belongings and get rid of what you no longer love or need. Chances are, some of your furniture won’t ever be making the trip to your new house. If you have couches, chairs or beds that are beat up and well-worn, go ahead and get them out of the house. You can sell them in the classifieds or call your local thrift store to come pick them up (don’t forget that you get a tax write-off for your donation).

Are there some items you don’t want anymore, but that are still in excellent condition? Mark these with a red (or any consistent color) in an inconspicuous but obvious place. If you’re not around when the moving company comes to retrieve the rest of your furniture after the house sells, they’ll know that the items with the red sticker can stay to be picked up by the thrift store.

2. Figure Out What You Need

There’s no point in buying a new bed when you get to your new home if you want to keep your old one after the house sells. Choose another color sticker and mark the items in your house that you’ll take with you on your initial move. This should be a basic list that gives you enough to comfortably get by until your first home sells and your furniture arrives. If you have a small house with only one bedroom, it may even be worth sleeping on an inflatable mattress for a month in order to keep your old house looking furnished.

3. Choose Your Show Items

Generally, you’ll want to leave your nicest furniture in the staged house. The perception by potential buyers that a person with good taste who cares about their home lived there previously can make a difference in a closed sale and its price, so consider the small sacrifice of temporarily leaving furniture behind as an investment.

Although you don’t have to leave each room decorated to the brim, don’t leave any rooms empty. When staging, however, less is more. A few choice items of furniture show off a room’s potential uses, but too many can clutter the room and make it feel smaller. The trick is to find a balance between ‘look how nice this room can be’ and ‘look how spacious this room is.’

Save your bulky furniture for the big rooms. A small bedroom should have a small bed — don’t fill it with a king and leave no floor space! Always leave clear paths for walking, and generally leave the middle of each room open to show off its size.

During your showing process, you may even be able to sell some furniture that you didn’t plan to bring with you. Choose a third color sticker for any items that you’re willing to include in the sale price of the house. Maybe that old dresser will seal the deal!

Moving is inherently stressful, especially when you’re forced to leave furniture behind to stage your home. Those items serve a purpose, however, and will help you to get the maximum value out of your property. Even if you’re forced to move quickly, a few hours of planning what stays and what goes before the movers show up will ease the packing tension exponentially.

In his role in the self storage industry, Tim Eyre helps customers care for their cherished belongings that must be put in storage. Tim regularly visits his facilities including a Waltham self storage center. Extra Space recently launched the Extra Space Storage Blog, for which Tim writes on a regular basis.

Any family that lives in a particular house for a particular period of time will realize how easy it is to end up with a messy house. Other than all the things that have to be organized and all the things that are probably strewn around your floor, chances are you have even more things stuffed in your cupboards waiting to be fixed. Although this is may be a typical way of life for you, it doesn’t do much if you are trying to sell your Golden Gate Estates house (one of the markets I serve) or if you are planning to have guests over.

Although it may seem like a huge task and it is, de-cluttering your house can be relatively easy if you know how to do it right. Although there are a lot of tasks that you can do, there are three ways in which you can definitely make some headway when trying to de-clutter. Make sure you take note of them and use them well.

1. Segregate your home into segments – Every area in the home has its own set of typical clutter. Regardless of whether you live in a one bedroom apartment or you live in a studio apartment, you should make sure to segregate every area in your home for the clutter. For example, you can segregate by rooms or you can segregate even further by area. If you have a particularly large living room for example, you can segregate it by mantle, television area and so on. If not you can segregate by living room, dining room and so on. Segregating your home will make it easier to sort as you progress with de-cluttering. Make sure any items you find that don’t belong in one area are moved to another.
2. Create a checklist of thing to throw away, give away or keep – Once you have segregated your home, you can create a list of items which you need as well as items that you don’t. Having a checklist will remind you of the things which you will need to throw away or set aside. In addition, writing them down will ensure that you remember whether or not you have completed the task you are planning to do with the item concerned. This is essential for the next step.
3. Carry a set of two containers – Once you have created your checklist move around your home with three containers corresponding to the things to throw away and give away on your checklist of items. Place all the things to throw away or give in each container. This is psychological too because it prevents you from seeing items which you might be attached to but shouldn’t be keeping. This way you can forget that you are giving them away. Once you are done with your clearing you can give yourself a little treat by taking one item out of the giveaway pile.

De-cluttering your house isn’t just an art, it is also a skill. The more often you do it, the more you will find that you are on top of the amount of mess you are making. Remember, in order to keep your house uncluttered, every time you buy something you should get rid of something to ensure your things don’t pile up. As you progress, you will also find that it will get easier and easier and will eventually become a habit.

Before we had the internet, things were done differently. If you needed to advertise your home for sale, all you needed to do is place an advert in the newspaper with contacts so interested buyers could call and inquire about the home, the location, price, the condition of the home and other intriguing issues that have to be verified before a sale can take place. This is still done by people who do not have the internet.

Today, the internet has simplified the way things are done and more advertising is not the answer to selling your home or other property. When a realtor displays your home on a website a lot of information is provided online. Interested buyers can view the house online and decide if that is what they are looking for. They see the exterior and the interior view of the house in full color. The living room, kitchen, dining, bathrooms and bedrooms are all displayed showing the floor, walls, ceiling, doors, windows and many other features. The garage doors, entrances, corridors, fireplace, basement and roofing are displayed to give the viewer a complete view of the home.

The exterior walls, roofing, doors and the landscaping is shown including flowers, shrubs, grass and trees and if this is someone’s dream home they will spot it right away and crave to see it and finalize the deal. That is why the internet is so effective in marketing and selling homes and other properties. The buyer will spot what they want to buy and take interest in those homes they like right away. Decisions are made faster than when they see a home on a newspaper or magazine and have to travel all the way before they make a decision. On the internet the buyer can take an online tour around the house in the comfort of their home or office without spending money on fuel to travel from one home to another. The internet saves the money and time for the buyer and seller limiting their inquiries to only the homes (for the buyer) and the buyers (for the seller) who are interested in that property.

If you want to sell your home just know that these days, newspapers rarely sell homes. The internet is a faster and more efficient seller of homes to a wider audience (even overseas), than local newspapers.

By: Marc Rasmussen – Sarasota homes