Declutter Your Garage

For a faster, more profitable home sale

A cluttered garage tells buyers that there is no room in your house.

This cluttered garage shrieks, "No room in the house!"

Many home sellers seem to think that cleaning up and organizing their garage won't make a difference in the sale of their home, that it's a great place to stash excess clutter and moving boxes.

I know it’s tempting to stack packing boxes in the garage until the move, but this is a missed opportunity!

Show buyers how spacious your garage is by removing the overflow coming from the house.

Decluttering your garage will also show buyers the potential of the space and may inspire them to want to do projects of their own out there.

If at all possible, take the time to organize and stage it just like any other room in your home. If you have a small garage, this is especially important.

Declutter your garage and clean it

Here's a funny fact about cleaning out your garage:

When people driving by see you pulling items out of your garage, they'll think you're having a garage sale. They may stop to buy stuff, so be prepared.

This is an opportune moment!

Work in manageable chunks of time; get help from friends who'll keep you on task and prevent you from clinging to stuff that needs to go.

Declutter your garage by hauling everything outside. Use the driveway or yard for sorting items into groups. Place some items next to the curb with a “Free” sign; if you’re lucky someone will think it's their lucky day and grab them.

Get rid of stuff by holding a yard sale.

Sort everything into labeled boxes or bags; donate, recycle, toss or pack up for the new home.

Be ruthless in your purging and make instant decisions. Stuff that's been “in limbo” for years are things you probably don’t need.

Don't stack up trash in the garage waiting for garbage day. Remove it daily-- keep it moving out of the house.

Move sports equipment, tools and yard equipment to an offsite storage unit. Hang on only to what you need for showing the house and yard.

Arrange for a storage pod to be delivered to your home. Photo by pods.com

Arrange for a storage pod to be delivered right to your doorstep, but check with city ordinances before doing so. Go to pods.com for more information.

Make sure that your automatic garage door is functioning properly, especially the safety stop feature.

If your garage is unfinished, consider completing this task. A finished garage never fails to impress home buyers.

If you have a water heater, washer, and dryer, or other kind of utilitarian equipment in your garage, wipe them down thoroughly to improve their appearance. If they look old and grimy, buyers will think they need replacing and may negotiate for new ones as part of the home sale.

For smelly oil spots on concrete floors, use a grease-cutting cleaner like “Goo Gone Grease Cutting All Purpose Cleaner” to clean them up. Find this product at any home improvement store. Or sprinkle cat litter or sawdust on grease spots-- let it set for 24 hours. Sweep up, then wash with a power washer and/or degreaser to remove any remaining residue.

To properly clean, prepare and paint your concrete garage floor, see the instructional video below by ppgprofessional.

Home stage your garage before the sale

Stage the laundry area in the garage

Designate a part of your garage as an organized laundry area.

Designate a portion of your garage for the washer, dryer, and laundry storage. Pinterest photo.

If your washer and dryer are out in the garage, define that area as the laundry room.

When I was a real estate agent, I saw numerous garages featuring narrow paths, hedged in by towering boxes, leading the way to the washer and dryer. Not very impressive.

Stage the laundry area by adding vertical storage, like shelving or closed cabinetry for storing laundry supplies.

Install a hanging accordion style drying rack next to the washer and dryer. Stage by hanging a few colorful blouses or shirts. Be sure the laundry area looks clean and utile.

Garage storage and staging ideas

Organize tools in the garage with pegboard.

When your garage is empty and all repairs have been made, consider painting the walls and ceiling white or another light neutral color. Light colors and good lighting always make a small space appear larger.

If your garage has bad lighting, install a few extra light fixtures to brighten it up or put in higher voltage lightbulbs. A well-lit garage is not only safer, but will impress home buyers.

Here's a home staging tip often used inside the house, but can work in the garage as well; the more floor space you can see, the bigger a room will appear!

Take advantage of high garage ceilings by installing overhead storage racks.

Overhead storage racks open up more floor space.

Overhead rack storage will reveal more garage floor space, making the garage feel larger.

If you want to really "wow" home buyers, paint the garage floor! There are many great products for painting garage floors, but a couple that really work well are epoxy floor paints from rustolem.com or armorcladepoxy.com. These garage floor paints come in a variety of colors and textures, but there is a downside. They aren't cheap. For more information on how to prepare and paint your garage floor, go to; familyhandyman.com.