Living in a Home for Sale
Living in a Home for Sale
As you prepare to sell your Northern Virginia home you will most likely have to undertake the balancing act of living in a home for sale. While this can feel like “living on eggshells” there are some steps you can take to make the process a little easier on you, your family, and your potential home buyers.
Clean & Clutter-Free
As with most of the steps in the home buying and selling process, organization is key. The easiest way to do this to your home while still living in it is to go through top to bottom, organizing everything you have while cleaning in the process. To help cut down on the clutter, organize your items into four different categories: Keep, Donate, Trash, Maybe. Everything you decide to keep MUST have a home to go to. Items being donated should be bagged and dropped off at your local donation center. If you are throwing it out, put in the trash and do not look back. The “Maybe” pile should be limited, but catalogue everything in this pile and place in a box to be revisited at later date. If after this home detox and de-cluttering process there are still a number of boxes or big items filling up your home, think about investing in storage. Cramped and cluttered homes can have an extremely negative impact on your potential home buyers visit so by making yours as clean and attractive as possible will serve to enhance your current living arrangements, your home buyers experience, and eventually your moving process.
De-Personalize
As you stage and clean your house while also living in it, you will be well served to remove as many overly “personal” items as you can. Kitchen counters should be clear of any stacks of mail that have a tendency of piling up there while those personal items in your bathroom cabinets should be removed. As you go through your house, think about packing up some of the more personal family pictures as potential home buyers are trying to envision their future in the home.
Schedule Schedule Schedule
Making sure that everyone is on the same page and up to date on the times of scheduled showings will help you and your family to get into a routine. Families with children and pets often have more demands on them when it comes to preparing the home for a showing, so it can be worth investing in a cleaning company to help you prepare for a weekly showing event.
Living in your home as you prepare to sell it can be a stressful situation. You should not have to live like this any longer than what is necessary, so once you are sure you are ready to sell, give us a call at 703-552-1372! Let us help you sell your home quickly and get you back into a comfortable routine!