008 The Private Sale Podcast | Organizing for Showings

Private Sale Podcast

On this episode we are joined by Holly, a professional organizer and founder of Parewell Organizing.

We discuss some tips on how to prepare your property for showings and the benefits of reaching out to some outside help with professional organizing.

For more information regarding Parewell Organizing go to https://parewell.com/

Josh: 00:00 Hey guys, Josh here from air realty. I’m going to be going over a very important topic today with an awesome guests. We’re going to be talking about organizing. So when you are listing your property, the main thing you gotta do is get ready for those showings. So you get people in the door, people are excited to come to your property. You need to make a good impression on them. And I’m going to be talking to a professional organizer who is not a home stager, a professional organizer, and it’s the first I’ve heard of this. Um, I’ve just come across this a business recently and it’s great for people living in their property, um, who are going to be currently living there. They need to get the place ready, they don’t want to bring new furniture and they want to continue to live in their property. A professional organizer is the person to contact. They will make sure everything’s set up for your showings and, uh, actually helps with your move as well, which we will get into in the podcast. So I’m very excited for this one. Um, let’s get to it.

Josh: 01:30 Alright, I’m here with holly who is a professional organizer and the founder of Parewell organizing Parewell. That’s an interesting name. How did you get that day going?

Holly: 01:41 I’d thrown around a number of different things and in this modern climate with Internet, you know, naming a business is a little more complicated than it used to be. Um, I really liked the idea of pair down the word pair, you know, we often associated with preparing vegetables or that sorta thing, um, but it’s, it’s kind of means stripping away the outside and getting, getting down to the core of things. And that’s sort of how I approach my in organizing business professional organizing.

Josh: 02:16 So I have to admit, before I met you, I didn’t really know that that was an option for people. That’s why I’m super excited to get into it. Um, and before we do, let’s just go into your background. So how did you get into the business? Where did you do beforehand and uh, you know, how, how did you get to this point of starting the business?

Holly: 02:31 Yeah, well, like you, I didn’t know that professional organizing existed initially. Um, I come from a background of a lot of customer service and sales had never really stumbled across my life’s passion in my early years as an adult, but I really liked working with people which is why I gravitate to those roles. And I think it all kind of came about. I’ve moved a lot since I left. I’m out on my own as an adult almost 20 years ago and I’ve moved almost as many times. And through that process I think I really started to, um, to be critical of how much stuff I owned and how much stuff was kind of an anchor from place to place that I was moving and I didn’t really care about and it was just this weight. Um, and then I went to a talk that someone was giving to the tiny house community, which is something that I’d been curious about and interested in and I’m, this person was a professional organizer, so I, I didn’t know that that existed and her talk was great, but I sort of thought, you know, there’s, there’s a different perspective that I can bring to this, uh, in a different approach that I can bring to this that I think I thought the market needed.

Josh: 03:48 That’s awesome.

Josh: 03:49 So let’s get into it. What, what it is you do when you get down, you need a client, like what, what types of things professional organizing entails basically.

Holly: 03:58 Yeah. So the long and the short of it. I mean, I like to say I help people make decisions or make positive change. And that can happen in all kinds of ways. Um, people tend to have emotional attachments to their stuff. If people are going through a big life change, be it a separation or loss in the family or even the arrival of a new baby, you know, that vastly changes how people live and work in their home. It changes the types of things they need to get done in a day and it also changes the kind of stuff that they need from a day to day on a day to day basis. And when it’s not managed or those transitions happen without people really dealing with this stuff, it can create all the, all of this stress, you know, people have items and clutter and things that they don’t, they don’t need them, they don’t use it. It becomes this real low grade just weight and stress that, you know, we don’t necessarily recognize it day to day, um, but it, it kind of finds its way into, into our everyday.

Josh: 05:07 So what makes the customer pick up the phone and call you then? Like, what, what are they looking at in their house? And they’re like, oh man, I gotta get an organizer in here.

Holly: 05:14 Um, you know, people just recognizing that they’re spending time and emotional real estate on, on having all of this stuff and they just want to be free of it. Um, it can also be, like I said, a death in the family, so someone may have an estate that they have to deal with and you know, that can be really hard for families. There’s a lot of emotion, you know, people like siblings get into, you can get into fights and that sort of thing or it could be, you know, parents who are leaving the family home and looking to move into a smaller residence or a care facility who don’t want to leave their children with that, you know, so they, someone in to help them just go through that stuff and kind of be their accountability partner to hold their hand, give them permission to part with things that they feel guilt partying with or that, you know, I should keep this because, or some process evolve a lot of throwing away items and removing items. It can. I like to focus on recycling and reuse as much as I can. It depends on what the items are, but I help people get things to the appropriate places, be it donations to community groups or shelters. Um, different kinds of recycling facilities that accept different types of things or you know, in some cases it is a, it is garbage if it’s, if it doesn’t have a useful life.

Josh: 06:42 Yeah. So what you’re saying to me, like the first thing that jumped to is, okay, a person has been in their house five years, they’re, they’re listing it. I mean five years of living in a place is a very long time. You can cumulate a lot of things. What types of things would you do to get that Person Ready for showings?

Holly: 06:58 Yeah. Well buying a home is really emotional and when people walk into a home, you know, they want to be able to visualize themselves in this space and not everyone can do that. So you really have to show people what their life could be like in that home. And that involves, you know, making a room, you know, you may want to change the use of certain rooms, make a spare bedroom into an office for, for example. You want to be really intentional about what kind of personal things that are in the home and how much clutter because clutter is something that studies have shown causes stress. The last thing you want is a buyer coming into your home and, and not feeling at ease for a reason. They might not even recognize, you know, they walk in, they don’t feel good, and they’re like, this is not.

Holly: 07:53 This is not the place. Yeah. Okay. So what types of projects have you recently tackled that you can kind of share with us? I’ve done everything from cleaning out sheds and just getting rid of stuff too. You know, a basement, downsizing, decluttering project, creating kitchen storage that’s beautiful and functional where everything’s easily accessible and it minimizes fume walking into here. The other thing you know, people, people think when they hear professional organizers, they think, oh, you must be so organized and you’re going to judge me. And that’s, I mean, that’s the last thing I want. Part of why I got into this as a business is that I really want to be able to help people and because of my own journey in terms of organization and, and the struggles that I’ve had in from, you know, being someone who accumulated stuff that really wasn’t serving the purpose I’d hoped it would have to being somebody who I feel much happier in my space now that I’m just surrounded by the things that I use all the time and that makes me happier so I could see people listing their property, use you.

Holly: 09:02 And really what you’re doing is making everything more functional and easy for them. They could become a client down the road. Just seeing how this helps. It’s not just for showings, right? Like this national thing. That’s sort of the big difference, I guess between what I do and what a home stager would do, where a home stager, um, I think where they really shine is curating a space with often items that aren’t owned by the client. You know, they’re bringing in other things and new items. Um, whereas I will work with the client to, you know, to pair down what they have in this space, but also within that, you know, help them navigate those no emotional attachments and get them ready for where they’re going as well. So it’s just a different kind of helping with the move in a way. Yeah. Preparing for that.

Josh: 09:51 That’s awesome. So what types of real estate clients can you service like can you do like multi units or like things like that or is it mostly just like residential and office spaces

Holly: Office spaces in residential or where I have the most experience. I really liked working with clients who have a rental space, so like an airbnb and because I have a background in hospitality and that’s sort of how I’m naturally inclined. I really like to be able to create those spaces like a little granny suite in the basement. Yeah. That’s awesome. Yeah. And it’s really just creating that narrative for people have, you know, what would my life be like in this, in this space? Um, you know, you create that for the buyer experience, but you also know for rental units and that sort of thing, you’re creating an experience for the person who’s coming.

Josh: 10:44 Was there anything else you can share with us? Like if someone’s thinking of doing this, like we should talk about actually it being a barrier to people selling? Sure. Yeah. Let’s get into. That was one of the things that I hear from clients and also from people in the real estate industry is, you know, I really want to move. I’d really like to be able to live in a smaller space, you know, whether it’s because of mobility issues or declining health or because somebody just wants to live a simpler life. They want to save money by, by not having this big space. And what I hear over and over again is, but I don’t know what to do with all of this stuff. You know, it becomes this thing that you need a two bedroom apartment because you’ve got stuff not because you actually need a two bedroom apartment or you know you’re not ready to leave the family home because you’ve got 40 years of memories and an accumulation that you just don’t know what to do with. So I mean that’s, that’s a big barrier to selling for some people and it keeps them from making changes in their life that that could be a positive change. That’s a great point. People downsizing as well, coming from the family home

Josh: 11:54 into something else and they just want. They need a little motivation. Maybe they could just try you out, see how things look, their new item list. Maybe they can take the leap and get their place listed.

Holly: 12:05 Yeah. Well I’m. What often happens when people try and tackle it themselves over either it’s just too overwhelming and they won’t start at all or they get started in, you know, when it’s your own stuff and you don’t have an objective person there to kind of direct you back when you start to get off track. Then it just takes so long, you know, and I sometimes when clients see my projects or examples of my projects and I say, you know, well this check about 20 hours or that sort of thing, they’re like, oh my goodness, you know, I would have. That would have taken me four weeks, you know, but it’s, it’s so much more difficult when it’s your own stuff and that’s why having somebody who’s objective, who’s bringing a different skill set really helps.

Josh: 12:48 So is the process very hands on for the client then. So they work in with you or is it mostly you are on it your own?

Holly: 12:53  It really depends on the client. Okay. So you know, depending on someone’s budget, whether they’re looking to save money or save time and what sort of help they need. I can do a number of different things. So for some clients I’ve put together a package of. It’s basically information on how to do it themselves. So we’ll have a consultation, we’ll talk about their priorities, what they want to get done, and then I’ll give them a step by step guide to go through that to help keep them focused as they do it on their own, what I do most of his working alongside a client. So sorting through stuff and, and helping them with that emotional process. But I also offer services for. So for someone who just simply doesn’t have the time to do things, you know, we’ll, we’ll outline, we’ll set some guidelines and, and determine, you know, what kind of stuff can be got rid of without further discussion and then all tackle the organizing myself and we have various kind of check ins and, and um, ways that we manage, you know, what’s being rehomed or are disposed. It’s awesome having a couple of different options for people.

Josh: 14:03 Um, so people want to get in touch with you. Where should they go?

Holly: 14:06 Yeah. So you can find me on the web at https://parewell.com/ That’s great. Dot Com. That was another, another reason why I went with this with this name and uh, I’m on social media is Parewell organizing. Okay. And I’ll, I’ll be around at different shows and events as, as I grow the business. Awesome. Well thank you so much. Thank you josh. It was a pleasure to be on the show.

Josh: 14:34 Thank you so much for tuning in. Guys, please subscribe to the podcast and also follow us at www.airrealty.ca our blog is posting content for independent sellers every Monday and Thursday. Please check us out and if you need a professional organizer makes you a track down, parallel organizing and get in touch with Holly over there. Thanks guys. See you next time.