Organize Home Office

It is very hard to imagine working in a home office space that looks cluttered and disorganized. You want to send a visual message to your potential buyers that you have the dedicated space that they are looking for to be able to work from home. We start by transforming the home office from frenzied and chaotic to neat and tidy.

(Note: If you are using a bedroom as a home office and you have fewer than 4 bedrooms, we usually suggest that you turn the room back into a bedroom to encourage a higher price for your home. If the room doesn't have a closet, then using it as a home office is a good option because bedrooms must have windows and a closet to be a "legal" bedroom.)

• Home offices should have a desk, desk chair, and a guest chair. If the room is particularly large, then a bookshelf can be added. Everything else in the room (except built-in storage) should be removed.
• This is a good time to organize your business paperwork into boxes for temporary storage until you move. We think that "Banker's Boxes" (available on our Resources page) are the best storage choice. They can function like file drawers and storage boxes at the same time.
• Your work papers and projects should be hidden from potential buyers for two reasons. First, your work is confidential and you should protect the interests of your employer and clients. Second, you don't want potential buyers peeking at your work and the clutter instead of noticing the great features of the home.
• If you have a lot of computer hardware (fax, harddrive,printer, other peripherals) then you have to minimize their impact on the room. Can you switch to a laptop during the time the home is being shown? Can the fax go in the closet temporarily? It isn't just the volume of these units, but their cords which are unslightly.

Today's buyers are looking for a sparkling clean home. This extends to your home office. If a buyer can picture themselves working efficiently in your very clean space, then you've won them over in this room.

• Now that the home office is cleared and there are only a few pieces of furniture left, you can easily get to the mouldings and doors to give them a good cleaning. We prefer to use Murphy's Oil Soap for this task. Don't forget the windows - clean these with your favorite window cleaner. Clean windows send a great message to potential buyers.
• If the room has carpeting and it is not worn, have it professionally cleaned. Wear patterns are especially noticeable once the room is decluttered and the pros can tame these patterns and make the carpet look just about new.
• We use the same Murphy's soap on hardwood floors if your home office has them.
• Make sure that ceiling fans and overhead light fixtures are free from dust and cobwebs.
• Take a look at your equipment. Most computer keyboards and peripherals are full of dust. Take some time to give these a nice going over with a feather duster or those small computer vacuums.
• Clean inside the closet as well using the same ceiling-to-floor attention you gave the rest of the room.

You might not feel that there's enough time to properly organize your home office and clean, declutter, and stage every other room in the home. There's a lot to do. We are not recommending that you choose this particular time to get your whole life in order. Selling a home is stressful enough without disrupting your work, too. Our suggestions to organize your home office will enable you to work efficiently and easily prepare for a last minute showing.

• Any work files that you don't use everyday should be stored away in "banker's boxes". If you clearly label the outside of these boxes, it will be easy to find the particular document that you need quickly and efficiently. The more you can put into these boxes now, the easier it will be to pack up and move after you've sold the house. If there are just one or two boxes, then you can stack them neatly in the closet. If you have more than that, find an offsite place to store these files. You don't want your home looking like a document warehouse.
• The top of the desk should have a laptop, phone and a good task lamp. Nothing else should clutter the desktop. The pencil cup should be packed away - just keep one or two writing implements in the desk drawer.
• Any current work should be neatly placed in a file folder that can be quickly stowed in the desk drawer. If you can't clean up your desk that quickly, then you have left too much stuff unpacked.
• If your work requres notebooks or other reference materials, think about getting a wicker lidded box. On a moment's notice, your notebooks can be stashed in the box, lid closed and box placed neatly in the corner of the desk. This is a decorative item that serves two functions!
• If the room has an occasional chair, make sure it isn't a dumping ground for everything you don't want to have to deal with - it should look as though a client could walk right in to your office and sit down. That's what buyers would like to think, so give them what they want.
• Office supplies are clutter. Keep them stored in boxes and out of site.

Working from home presents its own challenges when it comes to selling your home. On the one hand, you have to work productively. On the other hand, you also have to keep your home ready for showings at a moment's notice. If you organize the space as we've suggested, the intrusion on your "private space" will be minimal, you will be able to find anything you need when you need it, and you will have done 90% of the work to pack up and move. Not bad, not bad at all.

Staging the home office is the next step. Follow the link to our tips for staging home offices. You can also return from Organize Home Office to Step 2. Clean, Organize and Declutter and pick another space to organize.

Almost done. Just a few more spaces to tackle and you are becoming an expert at getting a home ready for sale!