We’re sorry for your loss; selling a loved one’s home is a hard job on top of everything else. There’s no single right answer, but home-selling advice points to a middle path: a clean, uncluttered house where buyers can picture themselves living, with a few good pieces left so each room clearly shows what it’s for.
What buyers need to see
HomeOwners Alliance’s home staging advice is to declutter and clean thoroughly, and to remove family photos so that buyers can imagine themselves living there. It also suggests making sure each room is dressed for its main purpose: someone viewing a four-bedroom house will expect to see four bedrooms. It notes that the effect of staging on the price is difficult to generalise, so it’s worth asking your estate agent what buyers in your area respond to.
Its guide to selling also suggests removing bulky furniture that makes a room feel small, while warning against making a home look like a generic hotel. In practice, that points to keeping a few well-chosen pieces, such as a bed, a sofa, and a table and chairs, rather than everything or nothing.
A gentle order to work in
- Take family photos, papers and keepsakes home first, so they’re safe with the family.
- Agree with the other beneficiaries what each of you would like to keep.
- Move the rest of the contents out, leaving a few pieces for viewings.
- Clean, and let the agent photograph the house.
HomeOwners Alliance’s probate guide adds two points for executors. You may accept an offer before probate is granted, but you can only exchange contracts once the grant of probate is obtained. And be sure to tell the home insurer that the property is unoccupied. The house will also need to be clear of all belongings before it is sold, so leave enough time for that last step.
Where storage helps
A storage unit gives the family’s furniture somewhere safe while the house is on the market, so nobody has to decide on every piece in a hurry. Our minimum stay is just two weeks, after which your storage carries on until you give notice, normally 14 days, and we refund any unused days. New customers don’t pay a deposit. If the sale takes longer than you hoped, you simply keep the unit.
Access is 6am to 10pm, seven days a week, so you can fit trips around viewings and the final clear-out, and you can share access with a brother or sister through smart entry. Every unit has its own alarm, and our CCTV is monitored around the clock by a professional monitoring company.
When you’re ready, call us on 0800 2545585 and we’ll help you choose a size, or get a price online.
Related questions
- Who pays for storage while an estate is being sorted out?
- Should I put things into storage before a house clearance?
- What should I keep in storage when clearing a parent’s home?
- Who pays for a house clearance after someone dies?
Further reading
- HomeOwners Alliance: Selling a probate house
- HomeOwners Alliance: Home staging tips