Moving house - getting your house ready to sell

bertiebb_2

Seems an impossible task.....

Want to get the house up for sale asap but you see all these photos of other houses with clutter free rooms.

Seems a LOT TO DO.  We've got a massive storage unit sorted which is one thing.

Both of us work full time so not a lot of spare time. Also, due to back problems (I've got a blue badge) I struggle to lift much at all.

Any suggestions?

Is there such a thing where you can pay someone (supervise them) and get them to empty, say. your shed and take it to unit for you?

I just know that one hour of me loading stuff into the car will mean I'm in pain for days.

bex2012

The secret to clutter free rooms in the photos is to move stuff from one space to another as the photos are being taken. Laundry basket in the bathroom? Move it into a bedroom, take the bathroom photo, then move it back. If you are going to put things under the bed/sofa push them far back enough that they cant be seen in the pics - it implies the house has no storage so you are forced to shove things under the sofa.

Decluttering is a big process, you will have to empty drawers etc when you move, so you might as well chuck all the stuff you dont want/need at the same time. We moved during lockdown so couldnt get rid of a lot of stuff. We also ended up with a storage unit, it was a godsend.

lika_86

Be smart about it. There is no need to empty a shed to move it to storage. People store stuff in sheds, no prospective buyers will be put off by a cluttered or full shed. 

Otherwise I agree with everything Bex2012 said.

RelievedSheff

The secret to clutter free photos is to just not have a lot of clutter in the first place!

Be ruthless. Get a big skip and either throw out or sell anything you do not use, want or need. There is absolutely no point in moving "stuff" from one property to another that you do not have too. 

If you do move clutter from one room to another for the photos it will only lead to disappointment when potential buyers do come to view the property and are then faced with something the photos did not portray.  

Bigphil1474

We started decluttering about a year before we went on the market. I also had some tarting up to do, so it worked out well. The EA's photographer should sort the photos so things look right, but the more you can get rid of beforehand the better. We had 3 piles - skip, charity shop, keep - and we were really brutal. The more you keep now, the more you have to pay to be moved when you do sell. Bear in mind, you could be on the market for months, so you have to keep your house tidy for viewings.

EssexHebridean

I’d also strongly agree with tackling the decluttering first - the more stuff you can get rid of now, the less you have to pay to either move, or store, for a start! Start with somewhere relatively easy like the bathroom. Aim to get everything aside from frequent use items put away in vanity unit/cabinet or a storage unit of some sort. “Spares” of things like shampoo and shower gel could perhaps be stored away in wardrobes which will for up more space for stuff in use right now to go away. Then move on and deal with one room at a time, methodically. It is also worth thinking about whether additional storage which you will also use in your new home is practical to invest in - just be cautious of leaving the place looking cluttered with too much furniture as this can make the rooms feel smaller. 

We were fortunate in that we had done a massive declutter at the very beginning of 2020 - well ahead of lockdown too, so we were actually able to get shot of the stuff we decluttered too! Even having done that though, we did still get rid of a fair amount of stuff when we moved too! 

If all else fails, get some “removal” type boxes and put stuff in to those - nobody is unduly surprised to see packing boxes in house photos! 

Herzlos

Definitely get rid of what you can first, otherwise you'll pay to store it, pay to move it, and then need to deal with it at the other end.

I took to asking myself if I'd buy a thing again at the new place. If not, it either got sold, donated or dumped. We started as soon as we found a house we liked and got rid of a huge amount of stuff.


I don't think there's a specific service for decluttering, though there are man-and-van services that'll transfer the contents of your shed to your storage unit who would presumably be happy to help sort it as well. Or you can always ask on a local facebook group if there's anyone free for a few hours work moving boxes around.

KittenChops

When we put our old house on the market, we asked the EA if we should (mostly) empty the cellar - they said no, it shows how much stuff you can fit in there!  So we tidied the cellar & decluttered it as much as possible.  As others have already said, why pay to move stuff you don't actually want?

For context, our cellar was probably a bigger version of your shed - it could only be accessed from the outside, not through the house (built on a slope), so it had our lawn mower, masses of other garden stuff, plus boxes of stuff.

bertiebb_2

Anyone ever use a professional declutter ?

Skiddaw1

Bigphil1474 said:

We started decluttering about a year before we went on the market. I also had some tarting up to do, so it worked out well. The EA's photographer should sort the photos so things look right, but the more you can get rid of beforehand the better. We had 3 piles - skip, charity shop, keep - and we were really brutal. The more you keep now, the more you have to pay to be moved when you do sell. Bear in mind, you could be on the market for months, so you have to keep your house tidy for viewings.

Exactly this!

OP, I'm rather good at decluttering and I know it can be a daunting task. My advice is to concentrate on one smallish area at a time. That way you won't get physically or psychologically overwhelmed. You'll be surprised how quickly you start to notice the difference and leaving aside the house sale aspect, decluttering is amazingly therapeutic! Good luck

Bigphil1474

bertiebb_2 said:

Anyone ever use a professional declutter ?

Not sure how a professional declutterer could work as who would decide what to keep and what to throw? I suppose if you're desperate you could try that BBC programme with Stacey thingamybob on it. I think someone mentioned about deciding if you'd buy something if you didn't already have it, and get rid if not. Sounds a good starting point.