When you’re selling your home, you must be ready for people to pop in at a moment’s notice. A squeaky clean home is a must, but how do you accomplish that while you are still living there?
REALTOR.com came up with five cleaning hacks to get the job done quickly and easily, so you can free up your time and save your sanity.
1. Work the Room
While your instinct might be to clean everything, you might also go crazy trying to pull it off before every showing. Instead, zero in on what the potential buyer is likely to notice, Haynes recommends cleaning it every day or two, and then doing a deeper clean once a week.
2. Use Mobile Storage
As soon as you know you’re going to show your house, pack up everything you don’t normally use. Once you’re down to the stuff you actually need, find a way to quickly and easily hide it when it’s time to show the house.
3. Fake the Good Habits
By taking small steps throughout the day, you’ll save yourself a ton of time and keep the house clean around the clock. In the living room, pick up as you go (or at least as soon as your kids leave the room). In the bathroom, make it a habit to keep your toiletries under the sink and not on the counter. In the kitchen, unload the dishwasher as soon as the drying cycle is done so you can start loading again right away.
4. Give the Illusion of Clean
Running short on time? You can easily make a room look clean without actually having to clean everything as long as you focus on the stuff people notice the most.
Focus most of your effort on two rooms: the kitchen and the bathroom.
If you have time, give rooms an extra boost by wiping down the fixtures and faucets, running a dry mop over the floors, and dusting the window treatments. Fold white towels neatly on the towel rack in the bathroom for a classic look.
5. Add Flair
Don’t forget those little touches that make your house look clean and presentable. Throughout the home, create inviting sitting areas and intimate spaces. In the bedroom, make sure the bed is made evenly every day lumps and wrinkles in the comforter can make the whole room look messy. Put out a bottle of wine and a couple of wineglasses in the master bedroom or living room. And in the kitchen, add a bowl of fruit or a vase of flowers to the countertops to give a touch of color and freshness.
You don’t want to do too much or you’ll be heading back into clutter territory but a few little touches here and there can create a scene charming enough that no one will notice the spots you forgot to clean.
If you’re a seller who has been wondering if it might finally be time to sell this winter, email us at concierge@lizmoore.com, or click below, and we can prepare a complimentary analysis of market value for you – you just may be pleasantly surprised.
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