Preparing to Buy or Sell a Home: Making the Most of Storage - Part 2

Buyers want ample storage areas, while sellers need it both for eliminating clutter from rooms while showing a home, and for containing their own personal items. Learning how to best utilize the storage will increase the functionality and presentation of your home. To ensure success, follow these four steps: Assess, Prepare, Achieve & Maintain, and Refine.

Prepare: The Space, the Items, and the System

After you have assessed the storage space, it is time to remedy any issues found. Creating access, resolving moisture or pest infestation, heating or cooling issues, and cleaning an area can ensure that items stored there will retain their value and usefulness.

Storage space that is climate controlled, dry and easily accessible is the most valuable. Renovations that add additional storage of this sort may increase your home's value. Any time you consider removing storage, eliminating closets or shelving, consider the consequences carefully and determine if that storage will be available elsewhere.

Storing items in strong containers helps keep them in good repair. While storage containers might be expensive, storing your valuables poorly can result in loss or damage, which might be equally costly. Cardboard boxes are subject to moisture and are often difficult to move, and can result in content which is difficult to see and access.

Shelving can provide an alternative to stacking boxes on the floor and make them easier to access. Moving one box to get to another is acceptable, but stacking too many boxes on top of each other can make retrieving items from lower boxes a daunting task.

Using boxes or containers that are sized to the contents will ensure that each box does not get too heavy. Fragile items that are stored in large boxes can be broken more easily, and items with many pieces should be stored together. Ensure that shelving and containers work together, and that items of like kinds are stored near each other, in a place that makes sense. Label your boxes, but be sure to update them when the contents change.