Selling Your Home? Here’s Why You Need a Storage Unit When Planning an Open House

Perhaps one of the most stressful things that most of us have to do some time in our lives is to pack up our belongings and move homes. This is quite often made a lot more stressful when you are selling a home that you lived in for many years since the idea of packing up all your belongings and leaving won’t really be a natural step of the process. Since we understand selling your home can be quite a stressful process, we’ve put together some of our favourite expert tips and tricks to make the journey a breeze - and yes, you read that right!

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Once you decide to sell your home and you are ready to move to your new place, chances are that you will most likely have people coming to view the home during your move. Even though it is not expected of you to leave the place absolutely cleared up before the showing, it does help if most of your personal belongings are stored away safely to allow any new potential buyers the opportunity to envision themselves in your home. If you have any children, then chances are that staging an open house without any professional help could become quite tricky. We suggest only doing what you can handle and not to put too much pressure on yourself. Get friends and family involved in the packing and cleaning to make it easier and more of a fun experience!

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Here’s why you need a storage unit

If you are still going to be staying in your home while the open house is taking place, then renting a storage unit is exactly what you need to make your current home stand out in the best possible light. Having a unit on hand while moving might seem like an unnecessary expense but it can make moving a whole lot easier - especially when you are not tied to any form of long term contract at your storage renting facility. Having a space to store a few items while you pack up your home will help to not only keep all of your valuables safe during the move but will ensure that your open home will not look or feel cluttered. A temporary storage unit also comes in handy when you are packing and styling your new home and serves as a safe space to store items that don’t quite fit in or that you still need to find a space for.

It’s all good and well if you want to keep all your belongings at home during the showing but it is important to remember that since an open house is open to the public, you don’t have any say about who can enter the home and you are not given personal details that could help you vet prospective buyers. Due to this, it might be a lot safer and smarter to rent a storage unit near you for a short amount of time just to keep any valued and personal belongings safe during the showing.

However, if you have to leave heavier furniture or any personal belongings in the home during the open house, then be sure to make a note of it and take a photograph of the item. This way, you can track where things are, if things go missing and if anything is damaged during the showing.

Pro tip: Make the process easy

Instead of rushing to empty your cupboards, draws and surfaces and stuffing your family's items into boxes and bags, take a few days to slowly categorise every single item when packing them up. Keeping track of your belongings not only makes packing a breeze but will ensure that you unpack in a methodological order, going room by room rather than creating a mess for you to unpack. Having a storage unit on hand (and preferably one that is in between your old home and your new home), will not only give you peace of mind knowing that everything you own is safe and close-by, but will also afford you some extra time to make moving into your new home easier.

Packing most of your bigger items, your personal belongings and expensive homeware into your unit before the open house will also enable you to hire a cleaning service and not worry about breakage or damage to your own items. It is imperative to have your home thoroughly cleaned before an open house (even more so now with COVID-19) as this will not only make people feel more comfortable but will also allow potential buyers to truly envision themselves and their own belongings into the space. Having any extra clutter around (like an untidily packed bookshelf or a whole bunch of kitchen equipment on the counter) might make viewers feel uncomfortable and as if they walked into someone's personal space.

Stage the home and garden

Having a well-staged home does not only mean the physical home itself since the garden, yard and garage need to be staged too! It might seem like a good idea to stash your garden equipment in the garage, but the garage is often a very big selling point of a home. Taking the time before the open house to clean and declutter the garage and garden might get you a buyer sooner than you thought! Use your storage unit to store your lawn mower, recreational equipment such as camping gear, fishing rods and bicycles and even your toolbox! The more space that is cleared in your garage and garden, the more likely a new family can envision themselves living there. What’s more, these items are also of high value, and you definitely wouldn't want them to get damaged or stolen during your house showing.

For more information on our storage units, our various locations, and our exciting offers, visit our website on www.rentastore.co.za