Tuesday, February 22, 2011

If Your Home is Cluttered or You're Selling in the Next Year---

My organizer colleague Nina Johnson (click here to sign up for her weekly blog or call her at 482-1619) sent a note about Oprah's March issue on decluttering.

Check out a great list to work through, one chunk a week, at this older article.

If you're organizing donations (for instance, to Dress Best for Less, supporting the Piedmont schools), take a look at the list of Salvation Army values for donations.

Nina, who's a fabulous resource for recycling and reuse opportunities, mentions Bookmark Bookstore in Oakland, a non-profit whose proceeds go to the Oakland Public Library--we brought 60 boxes of books from the East Coast, and that was before the kids became bigtime readers. I imagine we can divert many many of those to the Bookmark Bookstore!

Finally, the February issue of Realtor magazine has two nice pieces on prepping a house for sale here and here. Some of these ideas (spray painting stainless-look paint over appliances (and disclosing it)) won't fly here in Piedmont, but changing out outdated light fixtures, having dark cabinets professionally re-painted, changing out original cabinet knobs and pulls, replacing large frameless bathroom mirrors with framed ones that look like they walked out of the pages of the latest Pottery Barn catalog (yes, all buyers really do want that look), and replacing some tile grouts can make a house look "move-in ready" rather than like a "fixer" in buyers' minds.

And that can mean a huge amount in terms of pricing!

If we're working together, let's make sure to discuss these and other options before you invest.

Update: Check out this article from the NYT regarding how minor changes can completely change a buyer's perception of your home.

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