COME ON; SELL YOUR HOUSE! CLEAN IT! ORGANIZE IT!

We have bought many homes. So going in and out of these homes either on Open House days or with an appointment just mystifies me. Come on people, put the shoes in the closet, cereal in the closet, dog bowls in the dishwasher and bras in your dresser drawer. Ok, the thing is to make your home appealing to the potential buyer. Let them walk in and feel they want what you have. If it is all neat and clean, they will feel it is an easy home to take care of and everything has a place.

So lets see. This will not take too much money. This will take your time and some garbage bags, and trips to Good Will. This following information will also lessen your load and honestly make you feel like a thousand pounds has been lifted off your shoulders.

You’ve probably heard this before, but it is true: if you haven’t used it within the last year, toss it. Unless you have something very sentimental or of value give it away or have a garage sale ahead of time. Toss, toss, toss.Go through each closet, each pantry, cupboard, medicine chest, under beds and get into the attic and basement too. This has to be though of before you list your home. You do not want to loose any potential buyers because you have not gotten to do your cleaning and organizing. PLEASE donate children’s toys that he/she has outgrown. If you want to save them, maybe a storage unit would be in the budget temporarily. Even furniture. If you don’t need a couple end tables, that will make the house look larger. Make it look roomy and de-clutter.

Buyers that come in do not want to see ANY pictures of you or your family. Don’t’ be insulted! They want their walk -through to feel like its their home and that cannot happen with pictures, clothes or anything personal out in the open. Would you like to stay at a high priced hotel, walk in and there are pictures of the owner and his friends? NAH!! I didn’t think so. I think you want your stay to be personal and relaxing. So clear all personal things away.

Once you have all the unwanted items out of the house, then comes the organizing. Make sure the closets are neat. Even get plastic totes or baskets at a local dollar store. Shoe boxes covered in wrapping paper will do also. They make the closet look neat and organized. Fold things nicely. Dishes, pots and pans stacked nicely. All shelves decorated very limited.No creams, powders or makeups in sight.

Now for cleaning cracks, corners, sills and ceilings! Clean, really clean. Get a small instrument of some sort to scrape the corners that have wax build up, any mildew on sills in corners…. dust any webs from ceilings. Make sure carpets are cleaned by a carpet cleaner for Pete’s sakes. This does take money if you do not own one, but it is SO worth it. No one wants to TRY to move their stuff into a home that they think needs new carpet. Ugh. Wax floors, vacuum stairs, and under baseboard heating if you have it.Maybe you have dusty vents and ceiling fan blades, get busy!

Clean the inside and outside (don’t forget bottom grill) of the refrigerator, oven, dishwasher, washer and dryer. Sometimes the inside edges have dirt, lint or mildew. Make it look like these appliances are well taken care of even if they do not stay with the sale. It will show that the owner cares for everything. Oh and this is that hardest part for me: scrub the tub and walls,not to mention the toilet. If the caulk around your bathtub is mildew, please scrape this out, get a good silicone based caulk to match and run a bead of caulk along the clean and dried area. Have a wet sponge with you and take your finger and slowly run it along the wet caulk easily. This will smooth it and you will not need tape. If you don’t trust yourself, tape it or just try it. You can wipe it right up with a wet sponge if you don’t like it. Let this dry a good day before you use the tub though. This makes the tub look new for only a few bucks. Dust furniture. Again you, the owner, will look like you have everything under control and it is an easy house to upkeep. A pretty table does a world of good too. A person can picture having family meals there.

This is a top to bottom job. I didn’t mention windows, mirrors, doors and fingerprints on switch plates. You just have to take a cleaning solution around the whole house with you and touch up.

Touch up? Did I say touch up? Well, yes, you should paint any chips or ugly walls. Make sure all posters are down in the kids rooms. Painting is well worth it too if you can. Always use a neutral color like beige or ivory. It will brighten things up and also make the potential buyer not see any clashing with what they own. If you really cannot paint, try to wash the walls and remove any tape or nails. A little caulk in the nail holes sometimes doesn’t show up on white walls.

Check the furnace filter. Dust the cobwebs off the basement ceiling. Sweep and straighten the garage. Everything in it’s place. Sweep or blow the driveway,plant some flowers if it’s warm out. Place a nice wreath on your front door no matter what the season. Make sure the grass is mowed and raked. It really is nice if you could edge the sidewalk and driveway. No kids toys strewn all over the place. Bushes manicured. Gutters and downspouts secured along with any shutters also. Pools clean and swimming/cleaning equipment put away. Maybe a pretty tube floating would be nice though. Set a pretty patio table if there is one.

I know there’s much more to mention, but you get the idea. Make sure the house will not seem like its yours, even though it is!!! Let the buyer get comfortable walking through imagining it is theirs. It’s great if you could have a professional check your furnace, air conditioning or any other large ticket items the buyers might ask about. Buyers want to see organization, cleanliness and roominess. Simple window treatments, a vase of flowers or a pretty bowl of fruit will make it seem like home.

Good luck!