Clear Out the Clutter Before Home Selling in Sacramento

Most people have too much personal stuff, and this Sacramento real estate agent is no exception. I tell my clients to clear out rooms to make them look more spacious while I continue to shove furniture into mine. Of course, my home is not for sale. And we don’t invite any friends over because we don’t have any friends. Yet, our motto is if something comes into the house, something must go out.

OK, I admit that’s my motto and not that of my husband. Getting him to part with any personal belonging is tragic. Once a treasure touches his hands, it somehow transforms from an inanimate object into a living, breathing artifact worthy of preservation until the end of time.

But for the rest of us, into the trash. Or, to the Salvation Army or some other charity. Or, my favorite, the curb in front of our house, because it’s so immediate. I hardly ever see anybody remove the stuff — it’s magical elves who come in the night. Except for this guy who knocked on the door yesterday to ask me if there were any parasites living in the Oriental rug I had placed on a chair at the curb. Excuse me, parasites? Is that what you expect when an owner decides to clear out the clutter?

We had cleaned out the garage. The garage is a place where things go to prepare to die. It’s like the stopping ground before a final death. The weigh station before the graveyard. The hospice, like Denver International Airport. It’s for things we aren’t quite ready to part with, things that we might have some use for down the road and would be devastated, I imagine, if we could not find it in the garage when this immediate and urgent need arose. Of course, I can’t ever recall going out to the garage to find a stored item that I really, really needed to use at that very moment but if I needed it, it would be there.

Like a kitchen chair that came with a table and 5 other chairs but doesn’t fit in our kitchen space. It’s been living in the garage for 7 years. My husband pleaded with me, as I ferociously marched this kitchen chair to the curb, to return the chair to its rightful spot in the garage. His rationale was someday in the future we might want to give away our kitchen table, along with its 5 remaining chairs, and our lucky recipient would be horrified to discover the set did not come with 6 chairs. Oh, contraire, sugar bear. Our lucky recipient would be thrilled with the set of 4 chairs and one bonus chair that she can store in the garage. It’s one way to clear out the clutter.

Which brings me to a point about selling homes in Sacramento. See, it doesn’t matter if your home is a short sale or it’s a regular traditional sale, almost every home on the planet will show better with fewer pieces of furniture. Every seller should prepare a home for sale. Take down those photos on the walls — those grinning pictures of Aunt Mildred and Uncle Henry toking up in 1969 at Woodstock — and clear out the clutter. Your Sacramento real estate agent will thank you. And you’ll most likely sell faster and at a higher price. Not to mention, if you’re driving around homes in Land Park, please, feel free to take that kitchen chair sitting at the curb. I’m no stranger either to having to clear out the clutter.