What's In YOUR Closet? Annapolis Home Buyers DO Care About What Goes on Behind Your Closed Doors

November 13th, 2008 Categories: Buyers, One Minute Realtor, Sellers

Enough Already About the Economy, Falling Home Prices in the Annapolis Area, and the Election – Let’s Talk About What’s Really on Your Mind: Closets!

They say the eyes are the window to the soul. I say closets are the window to a homeowner’s soul. Show me a home full of chaotic closets and I’ll show you a buyer that sees red flags. Orderly closets – things arranged nicely and lined up with near military precision - sends a message that the owner is disciplined, a good steward of their home. Buyers like that.

Sellers sometimes need a little help hatching a pre-sale closet strategy. Some need more than a little. A former client had a special closet where he tossed all of his shirts onto the floor at day’s end. The pile came up to your waist. He’d pull one from the bottom of the pile each morning. It was like a giant shirt compost heap that kept getting turned every few weeks. We explained that while this arrangement might make perfect sense to his bachelor peers, it might prove a little off-putting to those with less rugged sensibilities. He eventually got it.

Your Doors Are a Good Place to Start

They should not squeak, fall off the hinges or tracks when you open them, or have dangling knobs - all of which are more common than you’d imagine. Please fix them.

Next, thin, throw away, and donate – whatever. Embrace the reality that hoarding clothes several sizes too small won’t alone make you skinny again. Be ruthless: if your closets are bursting at the seams, buyers will automatically assume they’ll never hold all THEIR stuff. Go crazy with organizers and storage boxes. Patch and paint closet walls.

Treat kitchen cabinets and pantries as if you were expecting Martha Stewart AND the health inspector to stop by at any moment. Ditto your medicine cabinets. Stash all prescription drugs in a safe place: the public has an uncommon curiosity about your ailments. In short, give your closets as much attention as you would your living areas.

Bottom line: great closets won’t sell an overpriced home. But they’ll create a very positive impression that could sway a potential buyer your way in a close contest.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 13th, 2008 at 10:48 am and is filed under Buyers, One Minute Realtor, Sellers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.