Sellers /On May 30, 2014

A Plan for Keeping Your Home Office Show Ready When Selling

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One of the challenges many sellers face is keeping their home "show ready" at all times. It is important that even those rooms that tend to collect clutter are kept clean. A home office selling my home can be a hard room to keep presentable, so houzz.com put together a plan to help you clear the clutter and put systems in place to make it easier to keep things looking good.

Make a Plan of Attack

Day 1: Deal with paper.
What is all of that clutter? Do you even need to keep this stuff? This is the day to find out.

Do some research. Sometimes we keep things simply because we are not sure if it’s OK to throw them out. Go on a fact-finding mission (call your tax preparer or search online) and figure out what you need to keep and for how long.
Sort and stack. Work your way through your home office, pulling every loose paper out of drawers, shelves, cupboards etc. As you go, sort your stuff into categories as best you can, shredding and tossing what is no longer needed.
Make quick temporary labels for your category piles with a marker on plain paper — it’s amazing how quickly you can lose track of what goes where.
Set aside anything that does not belong in your home office and make a point of returning it to where it belongs (or to whom it belongs to) today.

Day 2: Make some space.
Pour yourself a big cup of coffee or tea, because you’ll need the boost to get through today’s task — but when you’re done, your workspace should be feeling significantly better.

Pull every (nonpaper) item out of your desk and office storage and sort it into piles, placing like with like —for instance, all letter writing supplies in one pile; everything computer related in another.
Now take a closer look at those piles, removing unneeded duplicates (do you really need three staplers?) and anything that doesn’t belong in your office.
Armed with the knowledge gained on your fact-finding mission on Day 1, dip into your files and see if there are papers you can safely get rid of.
If you want to move toward a paperless home office, go online today and set up paperless statements and billing.

Day 3: Get organized.

Think outside the file box to find an organizational system that works for you. Rather than going to an organizing store first, see what you can use around your home. It’s more important to give everything that has been sitting out in piles a permanent home than it is to buy new containers, especially if you plan to move soon.

A grid of clipboards on the wall can make for a handy place to keep papers organized.
Wall-mounted cups keep frequently used supplies neat and within reach.
Cups and bowls borrowed from the kitchen make great desktop and drawer organizers.
Labeled, open-top baskets on shelves are great for people who like piles.
Traditional files are still useful for important documents.

Day 4: Freshen up.
Today is all about making your home workspace fresh and clean, so it will be a healthier, more pleasant place to spend time in, and will be more appealing to buyers.

Vacuum your home office from top to bottom. Use an attachment to clean window treatments, high corners and fabric lamp shades.
Wipe down shelves and surfaces with a damp microfiber cloth.
Use monitor wipes to clean your screens.
Use a keyboard cleaner to blow dust from between the keys or gently clean them with cotton swabs.
Bring in some fresh plants to help clean the air.

Day 5: Consider comfort.
How comfortable is your home office? If you use your workspace often, it’s important to have an adjustable chair with proper support, good lighting and perhaps a small stool to put your feet up on.

Day 6 and beyond: Do daily maintenance.

Aim to handle paper as soon as you get it, rather than letting it pile up. If you don’t have time to do this daily, set up an inbox with slots for a few broad categories (bills, work, school etc.) so papers will be easier to handle later.
Post a note detailing what you should save and for how long.
Schedule a weekly time to empty your inbox.
Straighten up your home office before you are done working each day. Bring the coffee cups back to the kitchen and completely clear your desktop.

If you’re a seller who has been wondering if it might finally be time to sell, email us at concierge@lizmoore.com, or click below, and we can prepare a complimentary analysis of market value for you – you just may be pleasantly surprised.

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Lynnette Tully

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Liz Moore & Associates is a boutique real estate agency renowned for having the region's top agents, with extensive market knowledge and local expertise that is only achieved through relentless training coupled with Liz's extremely high standards for professionalism. When you're buying or selling a home, experience matters.