Should you Stage your Garage when getting your house ready to sell?

As you’re going through the process of getting your house ready to sell, where do you put all that stuff you pack up and don’t need while your house is on the market? The natural storage space of choice for most homeowners is their garage. In fact, it’s probably a full-time storage space. It would be interesting to know how many garages actually house cars as they were originally intended.The reality is, buyers tend to be more forgiving of garages, but you don’t want to abuse this. It is very overwhelming to open the door to a space that is completely stuffed to the rafters. Give way and throw away as much as you can. I’ve seen garages filled with baby items in homes with grown children. You won’t need to bring those items with you to your new home so get rid of it now! Donate cars that no longer work. Rent a big dumpster and fill it up. Rent two or three if you have to. Now’s the time to purge! If you need to store extra possessions, rent a storage unit. Buyers will appreciate being able to see all the square footage the property has to offer, including a clean, organized garage.But, if you had to use the garage as the storage space, here are few tips:

• Keep clutter as organized as possible. Just because it’s in the garage, does not mean that items can’t or shouldn’t be stacked neatly. In fact, the neater you keep this space, the easier it will be on moving day. Imagine how efficient loading the moving truck will be!
• Try to set miscellaneous furniture and boxes on the sides to maintain walking room in the center.
• Take care not to block access to the furnace, water heater, electrical panel and anything that the inspector’s will need access to.
• If you have the luxury of a vacant garage, clean up oily floors and consider applying an epoxy floor finish. This is an inexpensive update that looks like a million bucks and talk about luxury!