Real estate investment is an expensive yet lucrative venture. Therefore, instead of spending more money on expensive property improvements to prepare your home for resale, you should consider de-cluttering. Getting rid of waste and unwanted items frees up space making your house look warm and inviting. The best part is you will make some cash while adding value to your property.
Related: How to Sell Your House: A Complete Step-by-Step Guide
De-cluttering is not an easy task. You have to decide what goes and what stays. However, if you de-clutter room by room, the process will be less overwhelming. After rounding up all the clutter, you have to deal with waste management. You do not want your stuff filling up a landfill. But what if you recycle? You will protect the environment and get some cash. So what items can you recycle?
1. Scrap Metal
When de-cluttering, you will find a lot of waste metal in your house. The best course of action is to sort the metal to ferrous and non-ferrous before selling them to a scrap metal dealer. You will get more money from non-ferrous metals due to their useful life. Therefore, put aside copper, aluminum, brass, and stainless steel, they fetch a higher value compared to iron.
2. Junk Cars
That junk car in your garage collecting dust ruins the beauty of that garage and can put off property buyers. How about exchanging it for some money? If a vehicle is no longer functional, you can take it to a garage. When a salvage car is repairable, it will be sold as a second-hand vehicle. If the cost of repair is too much, its spare parts can earn you a lot of money. You can also sell your damaged car to scrap metal dealers. While scrap yards will only pay you for the metallic components, it is better than the car ending up in a landfill.
3. Bottles and Cans
How many beverages or soft drinks do you consume per day? How about in a month? Imagine the number of bottles and cans from your neighborhood alone! At the rate we consume soft drinks and canned food, we might need more space for landfills. However, you can do something about it. You do not have to throw away those cans when recycling companies are willing to pay cash for those bottles.
4. Electronics
Many people tend to keep old electronics in the house, including dead cell phones, old computers, and TV screens. Those items fill up space, yet they have outlived their usefulness. Why not sell them and get a modern electronic? Many recycling companies deal with electronics, and they can give you cash, or you can trade in the dead tech for a new one. If they are in a good working condition, you can sell them online or trade-in for better tech.
5. Old Furniture
When adding value to real estate property through property improvement, all unwanted stuff in your house must go. That old piece of furniture will keep potential buyers away, so get rid of it. Anything made of wood or metal will fetch you some extra cash. Therefore, do not dispose of your broken chairs and tables. Even your old and ugly sofas can still earn you some money. Many companies utilize sofas to make throw pillows and are willing to pay and pick your old furniture.
Conclusion
The less clutter in your house, the faster it will sell and you can avoid massive property improvements. However, waste management after de-cluttering is challenging. Recycling offers you an opportunity to dispose of your waste without harming the environment. Nowadays, most unwanted stuff is recyclable. Besides, recycling companies are offering cash as an incentive to encourage people to recycle waste.
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This article has been contributed by Maryn Mcdonnel.
