Clutter is always on the minds of real estate agents, sellers and buyers. I don’t know if there has been a scientific study to find out if homes with less clutter sell faster, but I am sure that every agent I know would agree they do. Buyers have come to expect that homes will be staged, or at least look staged. The minimalist look is in.

It costs money to professionally stage a home, and as the days a home remains on the market have increased, many people have chosen to continue living in their home while it’s still for sale. To know that at least twice a week strangers will be walking around your home is an inconvenience for most people and quite stressful to others. The need to pick up continually after family or roommates can be cut back considerably if you pare down your belongings before your home goes on the market.

A real estate agent’s goal is to have buyers looking at the home, not the family photos and personal belongings of the owner. Buyers need to be able to visualize their own couch in the living room, artwork on the walls, and clothes in the closets.

Now that the holidays are over and people are in the mood to change gears, this is the perfect time to begin spring cleaning and preparing your home for that first Sunday open house. Once you are past the lightweight tidying up (what I call the “dust bunny stage”) and ready to move on to something more serious, I have some suggestions.

Relocate It
Rent storage. If you cannot bear to give up your treasures, renting a storage locker for a short time is inexpensive compared to a missed opportunity to sell your home. You don’t want a buyer to hesitate making an offer because there is too much clutter. Remember, buyers must sign off on parking and storage. I always have a buyer drive their car into the garage to make sure it fits.

Creative Recycling
Hold a garage sale. There seems to be no middle ground here. People either think this is fun, or it’s pure torture. I always gave the proceeds of my garage sales to my children in exchange for their help. That way they were enthusiastic participants and felt motivated to sort through their own things looking for toys to sell that they no longer used. My rule was that nothing came back in the house. When the garage sale was over, we loaded up the car and donated the leftovers to one of the many charities in town.

Give things away. There are several options, some obvious and others not so obvious.

• Freecycle: Join his online list to post items you want to give away for free. Better still, people post requests for specific items, so someone may be searching for your exact stuff and be happy to take it off your hands.
• Craigslist: Put up an ad in the free stuff section. With one quick look I found TVs, couches, bookcases, and an espresso maker. If you don’t feel like dealing with people directly, many advertisers state in their ads they are leaving the item on the sidewalk at a certain address with the time and date. If your free stuff has any value at all, you will find it gone in an amazingly short time.
• Free to good home: Anyone who lives in San Francisco is familiar with the pile of stuff on the sidewalk with a “Free” sign. I think of this free stuff as “urban mushrooms.” Sunday morning, on my weekly walk to the Fort Mason Farmer’s Market, I saw a large TV and stand on the sidewalk. Passing the same location an hour later on my way home, the TV and stand were gone. Yes, I know it is illegal to leave things on the sidewalk. Just because everyone is doing it doesn’t mean it is OK. But this method of reducing your belongings must be mentioned or you would think I don’t know anything about city living.
• Give things to friends: When I decided to sell my home after 20-plus years, it became clear that my children had more than enough stuff and did not want mine. So I offered it to friends. When friends visited, I would tell them I was moving and ask them to take something home with them. In fact, they could take as much as they wanted and I would be happy to help them fill up their car. This was a novelty at first, but after a while friends would tell me, “My house is full, my garage is full, and I should be getting rid of my own stuff.”
• Donate to charity: If your priority is to give things away and receive a tax deduction, there are many charities to choose from. Some will come to your house to pick up your donations; others require they be dropped off. Both Goodwill and the Salvation Army have drop-off sites around town. In the Marina, there is a Goodwill drop-off on Buchannan Street, close to Safeway.

As a Last Resort
Schedule a junk pickup. Many items can be picked up by Sunset Scavenger at no cost. For more information, call 415-330-1300. If you have serious debris to remove, you may need to rent a debris box or hire a junk removal service.

As you prepare your home to sell, keep in mind there is a direct relationship between number of days on market (DOM) and sale price. As days on the market go up, sales prices go down. Reducing clutter and having your home look its best will increase your opportunity for a quick sale at the highest price.

There is no question that preparing a home for sale involves work. The reward will follow when, after the first open house and brokers’ tour, your agent tells you that buyers loved your home and you can expect a quick sale.