Selling Your Home in Bucks County, PA - When You have Children at Home!
Oh, the little darlings are cute and all, but they sure don't help you keep your house in show condition, do they?
Selling your home when you have children living there adds a level of stress to keeping the house in show condition.
I don't know about you, but it's nearly impossible to keep my house "neat" with three kids running around. Showings on my house would necessitate what we like to call in our house, a "massive clean-up."
Here are a few hints for getting, and keeping, your house in show ready condition while selling your home in Newtown, PA when you have children living in the home.
1. Get rid of the toys.
One of my favorite things to do is clean out the playroom armed with trashbags. Get rid of 90% of your toys by packing them or purging them. The less the kids have to play with, they less you'll have to clean up before showings. If your children are anything like mine, they won't miss them.
2. Have "clean up" times.
Before you go to bed at night, do a big cleanup so that the house is in shape before the morning rush. It's much easier to pick up morning junk on your way out the door, rather than all-day junk from the previous day.
Home with the kids all day? Still have "clean up" times during the day that make sense. Before lunch. During nap. Before dinner.
The thought process is this; if you rebuild the house several times throughout the day, if you have a showing, you're only picking up the mess from the previous clean-up, rather than days and days of junk.
3. Minimize Use.
I'm being completely serious here - have one bathroom that everyone uses and make the others off limits. If everyone is always using one, then you only have to wipe down one before a showing. Don't let the kids in your living and dining room - they are off limits. Once you have the upstairs cleaned up for the day - it's off limits. No food or drink anywhere but the kitchen.
If you KNOW where your mess is, and it's concentrated in just a few areas, you can quickly get it together for a showing.
4. If you can't clean it, take it with you.
If you're on your way out the door, and the kids have pulled out a bunch of junk that you don't have time to clean up, throw it in a trashbag or rubbermaid and take it with you. If you don't have time to tighten things up before you walk out the door, do a final walkthrough before leaving with a trashbag in hand. If there's something out of place, put it in the trashbag and deal with it when you get home.
5. Buyers may overlook clutter, but they won't overlook gross.
Blocks on the floor? Not ideal, but acceptable. A potty seat on the toilet with a pull-up in the trash can? Kinda gross. I know parents, especially of young kids, get immune to poop, snot, spill-up, etc, but you really have to take care of that kind of thing. If it's a choice between picking up toys in the family room, or emptying the diaper genie, diaper genie always trumps all.
Easy, right? (rolls eyes)
I know it's a lot of work, but get organized, get control, and if all else fails get a trashbag!
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