How to Keep Your Home Spotless for Showings When You Have Kids
Staging and selling your home is hard when you have kids to clean up after. It can sometimes feel impossible to keep the place looking spotless when you’ve got so much on your plate, especially if your realtor calls for an immediate showing. However, there are several things you can do to feel more on top of everything. Halina Kuchciak And John Reyna of Ray White Real Estate present some tips that can help you create a flawless showing.
Little Things First
Before anything, try taking care of the little things first. Painting, repairing nail holes, and other minor repairs will help get you in the selling mindset. Small things like a leaking pipe, or a cracked window can turn off a potential buyer. Making sure everything is presentable will give you a better motivation for keeping the house clean.
Declutter Your Life
The best way to set yourself up for successful showings is to reduce the amount of stuff you have to clean in the first place. This means decluttering and finding a home for everything that you choose to keep.
We hold onto lots of clutter around the house that can simply be thrown out or recycled without a second thought. Decluttering that stuff is the easy part. It’s a little harder to let go of things that you have an emotional attachment to, but The Spruce offers tips on dealing with sentimental items.
Decluttering is also hard when dealing with kids’ toys, which often hold special sentimental value to them. However, moving is the perfect opportunity to talk to your kids about letting go of certain items.
Store it Away
If there are things you aren’t ready to part with, you don’t need to leave them lying around the house until you move. Packing items up or putting them into temporary storage is a good way to reduce the clutter you have to deal with before showings. Pre-packing certain items will also expedite things when moving day finally comes along.
It’s generally a good idea to put personal items into storage before your house goes on the market too. Items like family photos or personal knick-knacks can make it harder for buyers to picture themselves living in your home. Items with your personal information should also be put away — not just to leave a good impression, but to protect your identity.
Get Your Kids to Help Out
It’s hard to stay on top of everything yourself. Depending on your kids’ ages, you can often enlist their help with daily tidying. Getting kids to clean up can be challenging, but there are lots of ways to encourage them to help out.
It’s a good idea to stagger your cleaning tasks with a schedule like this one from Apartment Therapy so the tasks don’t pile up. Doing a daily tidying around the house will help you avoid any marathon cleaning sessions right before a surprise showing. Whether you just have your kids take care of their own messes or help you out with other tasks, it can help you keep your home looking great.
Hire Help
Despite good intentions, it’s not always realistic to tidy up every single day before or after work, especially if you have to take the kids to after-school activities. Hiring professionals removes all the stress of keeping the house spotless on your own. You can hire a maid service to come in to regularly clean your home every week.
As a parent, keeping your home spotless for showings is a lot of work, but maintaining it is even harder. Decluttering and putting things into storage will help make the task easier, but it’s also a good idea to make your kids help out. And if you don’t have the time to stay on top of everything yourself, remember that a housekeeper might be just what you need.
Whether you’re buying or selling your home, Halina Kuchciak And John Reyna of Ray White Real Estate can help. Call 021 22 63 917 today to learn more.
A BIG thank you to:
Kris Louis for this article.
Image via Pexels.
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