Below are the top three (3) things you have to do to keep the situation under control and not hurt your chances of getting a good offer. Keep them in mind if you want to breeze through the sale with as little setbacks as possible.
Another advantage of packing up early is being able to depersonalize your home. Most potential buyers are turned off by a house that feels too unique or too individualized. If they can’t picture themselves living in your home, they will definitely feel out of place and lose interest in buying. So this is as good a time as any to start taking down family portraits from the walls and wrapping them up so you can safely transport them when the time comes.
And lastly, it’ll give you another chance to experience living in a spacious and uncluttered house again (at least until the offers come in). It can even inspire you to permanently rid your future home of all of the unnecessary clutter you had to pack from your old one.
This may sound like a huge undertaking, but there are a lot of upsides to it as well. AND, you only have to do it once. Once your house is thoroughly cleaned and practically spotless, it’s easier to just keep it that way until it gets sold. If you have the budget to spare, we highly recommend that you hire professionals to clean every part of your home, including all the nooks and crannies. Years of living in a house (even one that you regularly clean) can build up so much more dirt than you can imagine, so it’s better to leave all the comprehensive cleaning to professionals.
Of course, you can’t hire people to keep your home at this level of cleanliness every single day. The trick is to come up with a system with your family about how you’ll go about living in a house which you are already selling. Entail the help of each member of the household by reminding them to cover all tracks of their activities. Wash dishes immediately after use, do the laundry at night so it doesn’t distract viewers during the day, and clean up everything the night before.
If you still have to live in your house while it’s being shown to potential buyers, it’s understandable to still have a few personal belongings inside. However, it would be wise for you to safeguard all valuables and belongings with sensitive information. Keep them in a locked drawer or a safe, and keep them in a room where people don’t tend to gather. Don’t keep any gadgets lying around, and make sure your computers have strong passwords.
As always, keep in close contact with your real estate agent and ask them for their feedback as well.
Best of luck, home sellers!
