Pack personal items before the first showing
Box photos, mail, and papers so the rooms show the house.
Box personal photos, mail, and papers before the first photographer or visitor. Those objects pull the eye off the room and onto your life. A frame on a mantle, a stack of mail by the door, and a calendar full of names are three boxes, not one vague tidy-up. Do this while you still have a week, not the hour before the appointment.
Start with paper. Tax folders, medical notes, and anything with an account number go in a box that rides with you later, not on the truck in a random stack. Mail comes off the counter and out of the basket by the door. Take names, notes, and calendars off the refrigerator. Wipe the door so the outline of a magnet is not the new focal point. A single clear fridge door does more than a new bowl of fruit.
Collections are the same job. If a shelf of figures or a wall of plates is the first thing someone sees, box enough that the shelf and the wall show. You do not have to empty the house of everything you love. You do have to keep the camera from stopping on it. Close closets you do not want opened, and do not overstuff the ones you leave. A closet that will not shut is an invitation.
If you still live there, pick one cupboard for daily items and keep the rest clear on showing days. The path from the front door through the main rooms should not dodge a backpack, a pair of shoes, or a project on the floor. Walk that path the night before and again in the morning. Anything that blocks it moves, even if you use it every day. Put it in the one cupboard or in the car.
What to do
- Box photos, mail, and papers before the first visit.
- Clear the refrigerator door and wipe it.
- Leave closets you will not show shut, without overstuffing the ones that stay open.
- Walk from the front door to the back and move anything in the path.