The Unfinished Basement – Showing the Potential

An unfinished basement is like a blank canvas; a dirty dingy grey blank canvas. (Can you tell I don’t like unfinished basements?) It’s not that I don’t “like” them, it just that if a basement is unfinished it becomes a dumping ground for the rest of the house.

It is rare when an unfinished basement is neat and orderly. Typically, it is a mine filed of boxes, piles of clothes, holiday decorations. toys and exercise equipment. Since there is so much space, the items are scattered about the floor with little more than irregular walking paths.

So, what to do? How do we turn the mine field into a meadow? My first objective is to clean it out. I don’t believe I have mentioned PODS it these blogs yet. I love PODS. (I can also get your clients a discount!) PODS is a service that drops a self-contained storage unit off at the home, filled by the client, stored in a temperature controlled warehouse then delivered to the new home. Using PODS is a very positive experience. It is the first step towards moving – my clients feel great after there unit is full.

OK, so the first thing to do is clean out the stuff. And I mean really clean it out. Hire some neighborhood kids to haul the boxes up the stairs and load the storage unit. Pack it to the top! Don’t let one inch of these units go to waste. Everything we can remove means another square foot of floor space that a buyer can see.

Next, arrange the remaining items in the basement into a logical pattern. Boxes should be stacked as far away from the stairs as possible – this will emphasize the size of the room. Boxes should be stacked in the middle of walls, not corners. I like to stack boxes 2 to 3 deep and at least 5 feet high with lighter boxes at the top. This maximizes the floor space and minimizes visual size of what is being stored.

Have one area for exercise equipment. Another for kids toys. Another area should be a neat workshop. You get the idea…create designated areas for different functions. This, again, creates the perception of space and gives the buyer an idea of how they can use the area.

If the laundry area is in the basement, it must be orderly. Remove anything that communicates “work” from the area, like an ironing board. Add some inexpensive shelving to get clothes and bottles off the floor. Put some children’s art work around the space to soften it up.

Lastly, dust all the remaining surfaces, especially water heaters, AC units, circuit boxes and laundry units. Buyers look at these when they are in the basement, so make sure they are up to the scrutiny they will receive.

All the best!

Monica
703-851-2690