How to Protect Your Privacy when Selling Your Home
When you are vacating your house and inviting buyers into it for a check, you are indirectly allowing them to parade it all over. Before doing so, make sure that you remove and secure private stuff that you do not want to share. Buyers will be going through cabinets, drawers, washrooms and literally everywhere. Most of us are really possessive about our personal stuff and do not want strangers touching them, making mental notes about our lives and making wild guess about our character. To prevent all that, you need to ensure you do not give them any substance to build upon. Follow our step by step guide.
Instructions
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1
Clean out the drawers:
Our drawers contain the most confidential and important of our stuff, which can look quite juicy to prying eyes.Since you cannot stop buyers from checking out drawers, you can at least make sure that you clean out confidential and private stuff from there. You can designate a private drawer to keep your own stuff until you move out and intimate it to the buyers politely. Keep bank statements, receipts and bills in this drawer.
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2
Do not leave papers and mail lying around:
Everybody loves a little peek in. Clear all mail and papers lying around. This includes the sticky notes on the fridge. Buyers are always looking for hints that could tell them how desperate you are to sell the property, reasons to sell it and the bottom price you are ready to pay. Papers like medical bills, collection bills might cost you the list price when they guess that you are in need of the money. Try removing everything that might give away a clue to the house’s actual value and harm you
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3
Remove photographs:
We love placing photographs all over our houses. These photographs give away everything about our lives, relationships and occasions. If you do not want strangers staring at them and making guesses about your life, remove them beforehand and keep them in the personal luggage or the one drawer you reserved. However, do not remove any impersonal ones as you will want to give buyers the ‘living in’ feel.
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4
Remove clothes and personal stuff:
Make sure to pack up anything that is remotely personal. From undergarments to clothes and your books, you do not want strange hands touching them if you are possessive about them. You do not want to be judged by your possessions. Empty the closets. Depersonalize the bedroom if you do not want any guesses and biases formed about your private life. Many people might just judge and your living standards by the brands you use.
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5
Be personally present to show around:
This may seem exhausting, but if you are personally present you can make sure that people do not misuse the liberty to explore. You can also control prying eyes over confidential papers and secure them immediately if you had previously forgotten. People will be more careful in their conduct if the owner himself is present.
