Some stagers and organizers will ask you to clean out ALL of your closets and cabinets on the chance a buyer will look when your house is for sale. We think this is a good idea but a bit over the top. Remember, focus on the priority transformations, don’t drive yourself crazy with a lot more work. Ideally, since you will be packing things away anyway, take a closet at a time and weed out anything you haven’t used in four months.

The Master Bedroom closets are the exception to this rule. This is an area that home buyers pry into, so it’s a good idea to appear spacious, neat and organized. The more organized you appear to be, the more your home buyer will view the house as “taken care of”. Here’s a step by step checklist of how we suggest you attack your master bedroom closets.

•  Pack away anything you haven’t used or worn in four months.  For most of us, it’s about 80% of our wardrobe. Think ahead in terms of weather and special events but this should not be hard to do. In the Fall, pack Summer and in Spring, pack your Winter clothes.
•  Hang all your clothing by item starting with shirts, blouses, jackets, skirts and lastly pants (If you have a walk-in closet, pants should be in the back.)  Separate the His and Hers sections.
•  Within each item category (shirts for ex.), arrange by color
•  Make sure each item is facing the same direction
•  Organize shoes, preferably in a hanging or floor shoe rack
•  Clear off and pack/box anything on the top of the closet shelf – use decorative boxes
•  Organize any “loose” items such as belts and scarves in matching boxes or baskets on closet shelves
•  Consider buying inexpensive hat boxes/nesting boxes for accessories
•  Consider buying wood hangers OR one color matching hangers
•  Consider buying a closet organizer (Target has these now) which can be very appealing to homebuyers
•  Finally, since closets usually don’t have any natural light, make sure your artificial light is extra bright by replacing the bulbs and cleaning the fixtures

Now you’re ready for the pickiest of buyers. And I bet you found a few things you forgot you had!