When it comes to selling your home, unresolved sentiment can be your worst enemy. Unchecked emotions that get in the way of clear and pragmatic thinking, Remax agent Joelle Bitar insists, can create obstacles that make selling your home more difficult.

Allowing strangers to walk through your home during an open house is disconcerting enough. Adding to that anxiety are the negotiations with potential buyers, realtors, lawyers, and banks. As a consequence, Bitar says, it is easy to see how a seller can become stressed out during the process.

That’s why she believes that sellers who remain the most collected and dispassionate during the selling process are those who strip away the emotion attached to their homes. “They have shifted their focus and come to see their prized possession as a product to sell.”

That type of poker-face approach to selling, Bitar explains, also translates into stripping away distractions within your space: “You want to expose the buyer to the best features of your dwelling. That means repairing imperfections that undermine the value of your home and doing everything you can to see it through the eyes of a buyer.”

The Remax agent suggests that you should make your home as impersonal as possible. Doing so can free up a buyer’s imagination. Painting walls in neutral tones and removing all nonessentials from your space can make it easier for prospects to envision your home designed in their style. “By boxing up your personal possessions, you are also relinquishing attachment to your home, and preparing for the move you’ll be making following the sale.”

Bitar advises keeping your eyes on the prize throughout the process: “Certainly, there may be challenges along the way, but if you keep your head above water, chances are those trials and tribulations will be less emotionally challenging.”

Should you have any questions about selling your home, Bitar would be happy to speak with you.