The thought of moving from a large home full of decades of memories (and belongings!) can be overwhelming for many homeowners. So, we’ve compiled a list of our best tips and tricks for our clients who are considering downsizing: 

1. Organize your things into 3 categories: keep, sell, or donate? Make piles of each, so you can stay organized. Only keep what will fit in your new home and what makes sense to keep. 

2. Take it one room at a time. Rather than tackling the entire house at once, just start with one room, perhaps the smallest room. 

3. Enlist help. Sometimes, adult children will volunteer to help sort and organize, even taking items they would like to keep with them. Alternatively, you can hire a professional organizer to help (we have plenty we can recommend!).

4. Use the hanger trick to clean out your closet: To help decide which clothes in your closet to keep, turn all your hangers backwards. Whenever you wear an item, put it back with the hanger facing the correct direction. This works best when you have 6 months to a full year to prepare for your move.

5. Take care of any necessary repairs. No need to spend a fortune remodeling your entire house, but it will save you money in the long run to fix anything that’s broken, have your heating system serviced, and make any other necessary repairs. Our team of experts is happy to come in and advise you on which items should be taken care of prior to going on the market - this is a service we offer to all of our sellers!

If you’re thinking about moving to a new place for your next chapter in life, please reach out to us and let us start helping you early in the process. This will make everything go more smoothly and reduce the stress of downsizing!