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NBR: Those of you that have sold a house please come in :)
How early did you begin prepping your house for sale? What kind of things did you do to prep it? Tips for while it was on the market for keeping it clean (especially with a little one)?
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Re: NBR: Those of you that have sold a house please come in :)
I'd started as soon as we knew we needed to move. We did have a little extra work to get done. We still had wallpaper that needed to come off before we could paint. But almost every room got a new coat of paint. The only ones that didn't were the ones that had been painted within the last year. Re-painting not only freshens the look but also gets rid of a lot of set in odors from smoking or pets. If you painted within the last couple of years you could probably get away with touching up and dings or scuffs. But sometimes just painting a wall is easier.
Also look at updating window treatments. Putting in some new mini blinds can help freshen a room. And if you have 'nicer' ones in you house that you want to keep you can take them with you but still have windows covered.
Have your carpets cleaned. My parents had just bought a new Bissel Pro Carpet Cleaner so my dad came and cleaned all of our carpets. So if you want a carpet cleaner this may be the time to invest because pro cleaning can cost a fair deal. But you could also borrow someones. I liked using my dad because then we could do it when a room was finished painting or when we were ready. Not when the company could fit us in. And that bissel took our deathly looking carpet to yeah it will need to be replaced but it can wait another couple years.
Don't forget your curb appeal. Look at planting some new flowers, check the clearance racks at Lowes and Home Depot. Usually the plants on there can be saved with some extra water after planting or are considered "old' but are still in decent shape. We planted pansies, super cheap but a great update in color. We also re-mulched our planter to make it look really fresh.
As for keeping clean with a little one we didn't have that problem. But when I was living with my parents and we would move my parents would pack up as much as possible. We'd stack the boxes any where we could. A garage the closest, as neatly as possible. When you have less stuff out it's easier to keep life clean.
How I thought about it was if I used it less than once every three months it went into a box. If I used it about once a month I had a tote for it. The totes were easier to get in but kept things out of the way. And if I used it weekly then it could stay out. That process also helped me to know if it was something I truly needed to keep or something that needed to just go by the way side.
Here is the link to our listing maybe it will give you some ideas.https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/4906-Warm-Spring-Ct_Louisville_KY_40245_1116278209
You can always watch HGTV and their shows on staging a house for selling. I got some great ideas from there. It also helped that my mom was an interior decorator, so we bounced around a ton of ideas.
If you want info about what we did or need ideas a little more specific to your situation I'd love to help. Also a good Realtor can help let you know what may need changing to make it look more appealing to buyers.
PS- Don't forget to keep your fridge and freezer clean. It doesn't have to be perfectly organized but apparently people love to look in fridges and if it's gross looking or sticky stuff all over the place it's a big turn off.
I agree with everything said above. Our house was for sale when Allie was 5 months-11 months. It was definitely harder to keep things picked up with her...but we did it! Mainly at night I went around and picked up before going to bed. It kind of seemed like it became a routine, and everything had a "place" to go back to. In the mornings, there is a lot of going behind yourself. I leave for work before DH, so he would make up the bed and put away anything that was missed once Allie and me were out the door.
The biggest thing is always be prepared to show! No matter what your plans are for the day...start off by getting up and getting the beds made, and organized.