Having your home constantly ready for showings can be one of the biggest inconveniences when your house is on the market. Imagine you’ve just settled in to binge watch one of your favorite shows, but as soon as the opening credits roll, you receive a text from your real estate agent that a last minute showing request has come in from a potential buyer. Or maybe you are at an important appointment with no ability to run home and tidy up before an unexpected visit from an inquisitive agent. The best way to handle either of these scenarios, and others like them, is to make sure your living space is continually ready to be shown, so that you never need to scramble to make the house presentable.
How do you achieve this though, if you are living in your house while it is being shown to potential buyers? Keeping your home “showing-ready” while going about your normal daily routine can be challenging, but it is a balancing act you can navigate by following a few simple tips.
Make Your Bed
No matter what you expect to be doing on any given day, while your house is on the market, be sure to make your bed every day as soon as you wake up. This sounds like a no brainer – of course you would make your bed prior to potential buyers arriving to view your home. But if you leave your home without a showing expected, you might not have a chance to run home and take care of this simple task. Buyers want bedrooms to be restful, serene and pleasant to be in, and if your bed isn’t made, it will ruin the appearance of the entire room. Meanwhile, if other details are not tweaked to absolute perfection, your bedroom will still look more pulled together if the bed is made.
The simple practice of making your bed shows potential buyers what the bedroom looks like when it’s put together and tidy. A messy bedroom on the other hand may convey to potential buyers that you don’t care enough about your personal space to follow through with other upkeep needs around your home. They may feel as though your house has not been very well taken care of, and thus their interest in making an offer could wane. An unmade bed is also a distraction to buyers because it reminds them that someone else lives in the home, at a time when they are trying to see only themselves in your space.
Take Care of the Dishes
A sink full of dirty dishes, or even a drying rack full of clean ones, is just as bad for your kitchen as an unmade bed is for your bedroom. Make sure that every morning before you leave for the day, all clean dishes are put away and all dirty ones are stacked away into the dishwasher. Then rinse any remaining food particles out of the sink and make sure it is shiny and spotless. Dirty dishes not only add clutter to your kitchen, but they also attract pests and cause unpleasant odors to build up in your kitchen. It is frequently the kitchen and bathrooms of a home that potential buyers fixate on the most when considering a home, so it’s absolutely essential that sellers take the time to keep these areas clean.
If possible, it is also even better to leave no dirty dishes inside your dishwasher ever. Get in the habit of ending every meal by cleaning your kitchen, washing your dishes, and running your dishwasher. Put away all evidence that a meal has been eaten, and make sure your pantry and cabinets are organized in an orderly manner. It is also good practice to take your kitchen trash out frequently so that odors do not build up inside. Countertops, appliances, and the kitchen floor all need to be sparkling clean. Keep disinfecting wipes on hand so that everyone in the house finds it easy to wipe down counters every time they make use of the kitchen. Put as many of your small appliances away as possible so that your countertops are free of clutter. This will make buyers feel like your kitchen is more spacious than it is, and like the counter space is plentiful. Remember, potential buyers want to step into your kitchen and envision their own friends, family, and gourmet meals, not see or smell the remnants of yours.
Make Sure All Toys are Put Away
Whether you have young children, dogs, or both, you may find that keeping your house tidy while it is on the market requires special attention. A clean and orderly house tells potential buyers that your home has enough room for each member of the family, and enough storage space for all of their belongings. It implies that they will be able to live a calm and clutter-free existence is their new home and will be able to stay on top of clean-up, since obviously a family with pets and/or kids is already achieving this.
When your house is on the market, you need to act as if a showing can happen at any moment. So anytime your kids have pulled out their toys, as soon as playtime is over, return all toys to the toybox, stack and put away books, and make sure all art supplies are stashed away with no remnants left behind. If you have rooms in your home specifically labeled as a playroom or craft room, get in the habit of making regular passes through these rooms to make sure everything is put away and no wayward stuffed animals or crayons have been left behind. A potential buyer seeing toys strewn about can be unattractive, but small toys can also be tripping hazards, which is even worse.
Another thing to keep in mind is that potential buyers may have small children with them when they are viewing your home, especially when it comes to last minute showings. If toys are left out, they will be very tempted to play with them. This could be a recipe for disaster if the toys you have laying about are not suitable for younger kids, and may even be choking hazards.
Cut the Clutter from Common Areas
Decluttering is normally the first step people take when they are preparing to list their home on the market. Clearing out closets and emptying the garage, donating unneeded household goods and reorganizing drawers and shelves are all things that come to mind during the decluttering process. However, as important as these bigger projects are, don’t overlook the small spots of clutter throughout your home. We all have spots in our home where items tend to collect and where papers end up stacked and sometimes forgotten about. Keeping these areas clear of daily clutter is helpful for making your home show ready at all times. It is also a good practice to keep up throughout the process of selling your home, as there is often a need for repeat visits from buyers and their agents, along with inspections and appraisal. Remember, it is easier to keep your home tidy and clean and orderly on a daily basis than it is to clean and organize it each time you expect someone to visit.
To address the small islands of clutter, here are a few tips:
- Throw away or recycle junk mail as soon as you walk in from the mailbox, and file away any important items you need to keep as soon as you are finished going through the mail each day. Keep in mind that leaving mail out when strangers are coming through your home is also a privacy and security issue.
- Discard, recycle or put away water bottles, phone chargers, keys, and other normal items that end up on common surfaces.
- Store medications in a private, secure place. Buyers will often open closets, cabinets, and drawers when they are gathering information about how much storage space is available in your home, but they are unlikely to open pieces of furniture.
- Put away groceries and other household goods as soon as you get back from the store. Never leave extra toilet paper on the stairs “for someone to take up the next time they go.” This leaves to much clutter that will have to be put away in a hurry should you get an unexpected showing.
Vacuum and Sweep Frequently
Vacuuming and sweeping are two of the most important habits you should take on when it comes to making sure your house is constantly ready for showings. These acts are even more important if you have pets. It might be easy for you to overlook a little bit of fluff from your goldendoodle’s tail but your potential buyers will notice it immediately. Make sure your hardwood floors are swept clean and shine like new, and that the grout between floor tiles are clean and white with no mildew spots to be found. If you have robot vacuums, program them to run every day while your house is being shown, and keep a hand or stick vac nearby for small messes and any small pits of hair or dirt you run across.
Make Sure Every Room Passes the Sniff Test
Does your home have a smell? Are you sure? Olfactory fatigue (commonly called nose blindness) is very real and almost everyone has it. Over time, we become unaware of the smells that we live with al of the time. This means that if you have cats, you may not realize that their litter box is giving off a smell, or in the case of dogs, you may not realize that their bed smells a bit strong. If your home is older or tends to be humid, the more noticeable these odors may be.
While your home is on the market, it’s a good idea to have a friend or family member visit your home a few times and report back about any odors they observe. If their response leads you to believe that you need to add a more pleasant odor into the mix, be sure to choose something that is subtle and unobtrusive. Good options include lemon verbena, rosemary or lavender. Avoid strong tropical or fruity scents as they tend to give the impression that another more offensive odor is being covered up.