The 4 Categories of Home Depersonalization

Real Estate Podcast with John Quinn

Before putting their home on the market, a lot of sellers ask me, “John, should I depersonalize my home?” My answer is always the same: Absolutely. However, we also don’t want to go overboard and stage it to look like a sterile hospital from the 1970s. To ensure we don’t do too much or too little during the depersonalization process, we’ll need to focus on four categories. The first category is paint. Your home might have brightly painted walls that fit your personality perfectly, but that’s not what buyers want to see. We want to appeal to the largest number of buyers as possible, so consider painting over those bright colors with more neutral options like a light gray, light yellow, or taupe. “We want to appeal to the largest number of buyers as possible.” Speaking of neutral, you’ll also want to give your kitchen a more neutral feel. As homeowners, our kitchen is a place for us to put our personal lives on display. We like to hang an assortment of magnets and family photos on our refrigerator and arrange our kitchen utensils and appliances as we see fit. Once your home is on the market, though, it’s best to store personal items out of sight and to arrange kitchenware in a visually appealing way. Third, clear your walls of excessive family photos. Having a few photos on your walls isn’t a bad thing, but if you have a huge gallery that stretches across your entire hallway, I suggest removing them for showings. The same goes for the collection of photos resting on your coffee table or above your mantle. Last but not least, it’s time to get to work on your garage. While your garage can be a good spot to house items you’ve removed from your closets or attic for decluttering purposes, it’s important not to block walkways and to leave room for buyers to envision parking their cars in the space. If you have any questions or would like help depersonalizing your home before it’s up for sale, please don’t hesitate to give me a call at 901-591-8100. I look forward to hearing from you!