When you list your Bethesda home for sale, you need to remember that strangers will be coming through your home – (hopefully only for a few days)! Not only should you declutter your home, but you should put away items which you do not want to lose. Here is a list of items that you should definitely protect and secure.
1. Money – That piggy bank might be a tempting target for someone at an open house in that wonderful condo for sale in Bethesda. You don’t want to lose the coin jar where you deposit your loose change or the coffee can with dollars stuffed in a drawer for emergencies. Put them in a safe place for now—like the bank!
2. Personal paperwork – It is important to declutter surfaces. When you clear off your desk, make sure that all the bills, invoices, letters from government agencies, taxes, wills, etc. are stored in a secure location. The file folder on your desk, the stack of papers in the drawer, or the bills on the bulletin board in your kitchen – remove them all and put them in a safe place so potential buyers aren’t tempted to peek at them.
3. All Weapons, guns, ammunition– Don’t just hide these…remove them from your home. A buyer might wonder if the neighborhood is safe – or an unattended child might find them. Even if those things don’t happen, a Chevy Chase home buyer may just think you are odd and want to avoid doing business with you!
4. Family photos– Lots of framed photos hanging in a hallway or on a mantel are
visually distracting. The buyers should be looking at your house – not at you!
5. Political Photos – This is particularly important in a city like Washington, DC. Buyers might not like your house because they don’t like your politics. Stash the photos!
6. Jewelry and valuables –Put away your jewelry and valuables, hide your jewelry box, your good silver , and your valuable antiques such as vases, figurines, or artwork. Put away anything of value that could fit into a pocket or a purse.
7. Medicine – Be sure to secure all your medicines – particularly prescription painkillers. Thieves come to open houses looking for treasures like that.
8. House Keys and Car Keys – Everyone has hooks on the wall or a junk drawer somewhere filled with keys. Make sure that the keys are safely secured so that a thief can’t steal the keys during an open house and come back later to steal other things of value.
If you are planning on buying or selling a home in Bethesda, Chevy Chase, or NW Washington, you should give the Lise Howe Group a call at 240-401-5577. Lise is in the top 5 % of all Realtors in the 20815 zipcode and is known as the Queen of Kenwood Forest for all her sales there.