Finding out the news we were expecting baby #2 in May, we decided it was time to put our house on the market and find something larger. Our house isn't super small...under 1,700 square feet...but we want something we can grow into and stay in for many years to come.
This was a great starter home for us. I know I will cry when we move. This was our first home purchase and more importantly, Vivian's first home. I'm sad she won't remember her time here, but we certainly will!
We made the decision just before Christmas to sell and went live mid-January. January isn't the 'ideal' time to sell, but you gotta do whatcha gotta do.
Now, when you have a toddler on your hands...in my case, an 18 month old, it can be very challenging. You want your house SPOTLESS and DE-CLUTTERED.
Before meeting with our realtors, I deep cleaned the entire house. I cleaned ALL the base boards, light fixtures (amazing how much brighter it makes your home when you do this), rented a carpet cleaner from Home Depot and cleaned all the rugs and carpet, cleaned all the scuffs off the walls, scrubbed every door removing the dust, scrubbed the kitchen and bathroom cabinets inside and out, cleaned under the top cabinets removing food splatter, made the stove and oven look brand new by getting the 'gunk' out from around the knobs and around the stove top and cleaned the food from inside the oven, cleaned the tile grout in the kitchen.
It was an EXHAUSTING JOB. Especially after caring for Vivian all day and cleaning at night. Totally worth it though!
When our realtors came to our house they could not believe how great our little home looked. They said it would sell itself. There was nothing we needed to do.
Our house was on the market just under 5 weeks when we got an offer that we accepted. Our house was like a revolving door with potential buyers. It was shown to someone almost everyday, which means you have to clean EVERYDAY!!!
Here are my tips:
1. Deep clean before meeting with a realtor to list your home. Make small repairs if need-be.
2. De-Clutter, De-clutter, De-clutter!!! Rent a storage unit to clean out your closets and toys that your little one doesn't play with. Potential buyers want to see the size of your closets, not all your belongings. You also don't want toys everywhere. We also have a FROG (a room above the garage) that we had an inflatable mattress on a bed frame for guests that we took down. Wanted to show the potential buyer how large the space was.
3. Remove as many family photos as possible. Buyers want to imagine themselves living there and not focused on the family that currently lives in their potential home. We only left a few pictures of Vivian up, table framed pics only...which was only two. I hated putting hers and our pics away, but I wanted to make a quick sale. Leaving non-family portraits on the walls are fine. We have a few professional photos and paintings of our historic town we live in that we left hanging.
4. Windex, Pledge, Clorox Wipes, Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, Stainless Steel Appliance Cleaner, Tile and Hardwood Floor Cleaner will be your best friend during this process.
5. Dust, vacuum, sweep, make sure your kitchen and bathrooms are spotless when you know you have a showing. The kitchen and bath are the two rooms that really sell your home.
6. If you have any decals on your child's wall, take them down. Very easy to do. I had one over Vivian's crib that I removed. Buyers may think it would be something difficult to remove.
7. If your little one naps, make sure your realtor knows when his/her nap time is so they can block that time for showings.
8. Have as many open houses that you can. We had 3 open houses in 1 month! You want as much traffic as possible.
9. If you have dog, take him with you or have a neighbor or doggie day care watch him. If the water and food bowl is inside, put it where no one will see it. We tucked Brody's away in the garage. We looked at homes where there dog was in the garage or in crates. It may be a pain, but buyers don't want to hear a barking dog while touring your home. If you have cats, make sure the litter box is outside and cats aren't roaming around the house. We looked at two houses that had cats and you all you could do was smell cat. Opening the closets, cat smell. Walking into each room, cat smell. Walk into the front door, cat smell. Horrible. Pet owners, make sure your house is smelling fresh and clean and not smelling like animal.
10. Buy new bath mats and hand towels to use only for showings. After a showing, put them up until your next showing. Don't use them for yourself. Speaking of your bathroom, hide your shampoo, body wash, loofa, bath cloth, toothbrush, face wash, toothpaste underneath your sink. Hide your trash can as well.
Make sure all bath toys are put away and not hanging out in the tub.
Make sure all bath toys are put away and not hanging out in the tub.
11. Organize your linen closet. I made sure towel colors where organized. I also put all meds, nail polish, etc in a basket and left it in the back of my car. Again, I wanted buyers to see the space they would have.
12. Get down and clean around the base of your toilets. It gets nasty down there! I also cloroxed the entire toilets to make them white as possible. You want to remove all the dust and hair.
13. Clean all of your windows. Amazing how dirty they get.
14. When you have a showing, open all of your blinds and turn on every single light in your house. You want it bright as possible!
15. Make sure your yard is well maintained. Hedges trimmed, pine cones picked up, pine straw racked, fallen limbs are thrown away, front porch, back patio and garage swept clean.
16. If your little one is still in diapers, don't put the diaper in a diaper pale. Throw it away in the outside garbage. You don't want dirty diaper smell in the room.
17. By keeping your home tighty each day, it will leave you less stress when you have a showing request the same day it was requested. Clean after little one goes to bed and deal with the little pick-ups the next day.
18. Have snacks, drinks, diapers, wipes ready to take with you when you have to leave your house.
Every single comment we had from each showing was how immaculate our house was and so well maintained. It was great hearing, especially being a stay-at-home-mom to little miss Tasmanian Devil.
It was the BIGGEST PAIN IN THE BUTT, but totally worth the constant cleaning. So happy we are under contract and we have made an offer on our 'forever' home that the seller accepted.
Happy Selling!!!!
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