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Selling Your Home? 14 Areas You Don't Want to Forget to Clean.

Reblogger Pat Starnes-Front Gate Realty
Real Estate Agent with Front Gate Real Estate Broker 11085

To get top dollar when selling your Mississippi home, make it shine! Clean it from top to bottom. Kathy Streib lists 14 areas that are frequently overlooked. Remove the dirt and grime and call me when you are ready to sell!

~Pat

Original content by Kathy Streib

Selling Your Home? 14 Areas You Don’t Want to Forget to Clean!

If you have plans to sell your house, chances are high on your list ofselling your house? projects is to make sure your house is clean. You no doubt were told this by
your real estate agent as well.

However, besides scrubbing your floors and cleaning windows and bathrooms and kitchen sinks, there are areas that you might miss.

Potential buyers may miss these areas but don’t count on it.  In fact, you don’t have to wait until you’re selling your house to tackle these areas!

 

Don’t forget to clean these 14 areas:

*Behind and on top of the refrigerator

 

*Light bulbs and  lampshades- hopefully these will be turned on when your home is being shown.  So, make sure these are clean

*Outdoor mats- or purchase new ones.  This is one of the first things a buyer will see. You want it to say “Welcome” and not “I’m old and dirty.”

clean your oven*The cords behind the television and other electronics. It only takes a few minutes to run down each cord with a dust cloth, but you’d be surprised at what a difference it will make.

*Inside the oven and microwave- Buyers will open these! Don’t forget the burners.

*Ceiling fan blades- nothing worse than looking up and seeing a colony of dust bunnies.

 

*Air vents- break out the vacuum for this task!

*Inside your dishwasher- Many will often open and look in this just as they will the oven and microwave.

*Door frames and doors- So many hands touch these daily.  Get  Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and clean the smudges.

*Light switch plates- You can use the same Magic Eraser or if need be, replace it with a clean your ventsnew one.  

*Behind and under furniture- Just because it isn’t seen doesn’t mean that it isn’t noticed.

*Window sills-You’re always told to make your windows sparkle but don’t forget the window sills.

*Kitchen sink drains- no one is looking in it, but what’s in it could be sending a not so nice signal to your buyers. Use baking soda and vinegar, then hot water or ice cubes and coarse salt.

*Sliders- clean thresholds.  Those little tracks collect so much gunk and dirt.  But your buyers will be heading out them to take a look at your pool area.  Make sure these are thoroughly cleaned.

Don’t forget to clean these hidden areas before you put your house on the market!   Let the buyers know that their next home has been well cared for!

 



 Kathy Streib 

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Comments(21)

Praful Thakkar
LAER Realty Partners - Burlington, MA
Metro Boston Homes For Sale

Pat Starnes excellent re-blog of Kathy's post - love that!

Jan 11, 2016 03:10 PM
Endre Barath, Jr.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties - Beverly Hills, CA
Realtor - Los Angeles Home Sales 310.486.1002

Pat what a great re-blog from Kathy Streib  I am printing it out and passing it on to our cleaning lady:)) not for sale but just to clean those areas:)), Endre

Jan 11, 2016 04:34 PM
Joe Petrowsky
Mortgage Consultant, Right Trac Financial Group, Inc. NMLS # 2709 - Manchester, CT
Your Mortgage Consultant for Life

Good morning Pat. Kathy Streib did such a great job with this post, so many suggestions that all of us can use.

Great choice for a re-blog.

Jan 11, 2016 06:12 PM
TeamCHI - Complete Home Inspections, Inc.
Complete Home Inspections, Inc. - Brentwood, TN
Home Inspectons - Nashville, TN area - 615.661.029

 Good morning Pat Starnes . Excellent read blog by Kathy Streib . I saw this one earlier and these are things we must remember to do.

Jan 11, 2016 06:24 PM
Roger D. Mucci
Shaken...with a Twist 216.633.2092 - Euclid, OH
Lets shake things up at your home today!

Areas most often neglected and things I try to keep up with on a regular basis.

Jan 11, 2016 06:51 PM
Kathy Streib
Cypress, TX
Home Stager/Redesign

Pat- thank you for the reblog!

Jan 11, 2016 09:10 PM
Nina Hollander, Broker
Coldwell Banker Realty - Charlotte, NC
Your Greater Charlotte Realtor

Great re-blog, Pat. I'm sitting here scratching my head as to how I missed this post by Kathy Streib since I follow her. 

Jan 11, 2016 10:19 PM
Belinda Spillman
Aspen Lane Real Estate Colorful Colorado - Aurora, CO
Colorado Living!

This is a great re-blog.  Many times sellers overlook these areas.

Jan 11, 2016 11:55 PM
Pat Starnes-Front Gate Realty
Front Gate Real Estate - Brandon, MS
601-991-2900 Office; 601-278-4513 Cell

Nina Hollander - Kathy wrote this post about a year ago, but it's evergreen, so appropriate to share any time of year.

Roger D. Mucci - one of my annoying habits is to check out how dirty the ceiling fan blades are when I'm showing property. Yes, they are difficult to clean if you don't have the right tools but it's important to banish the dirt.

Jan 12, 2016 12:11 AM
Nina Hollander, Broker
Coldwell Banker Realty - Charlotte, NC
Your Greater Charlotte Realtor

Pat Starnes ~ well, Pat, I feel better for not having missed a recent post. You're right... there is no expiration date on this post.

Jan 12, 2016 12:18 AM
Dana Tapia
Re/Max of Orange Beach - Orange Beach, AL
Gulf Coast Real Estate Professionals

Really great list!  I'm sure most of those areas are overlooked in a regular cleaning.  Would be great to hand to sellers when they list.

Jan 12, 2016 09:16 AM
Grant Schneider
Performance Development Strategies - Armonk, NY
Your Coach Helping You Create Successful Outcomes

Hi Patricia - This was a great choice for a re blog.  Kathy always has good tips.

Jan 12, 2016 01:01 PM
Shannon Milligan, Richmond VA Real Estate Agent/Associate Broker
RVA Home Team - Richmond, VA
RVA Home Team - Winning with Integrity.

Nice choice for a re-blog. This a great list. I hate to say, I am not sure the last time my refrigerator saw a cloth!

Jan 13, 2016 03:50 AM
Pat Starnes-Front Gate Realty

Ha! Shannon Milligan, Richmond VA Real Estate Agent/Associate Broker . The last time mine saw a cloth would have been if a large glass of liquid spilled over. 

Jan 13, 2016 06:31 AM
Kimo Stowell
HI Pro Realty LLC RB-21531 - Honolulu, HI
REALTOR Associate® RS-76763 - Honolulu Hawai'i

Aloha Pat, Super re-blog. Dirty finger and hand prints on door frames and doors are often overlooked despite being blatantly obvious.

Jan 13, 2016 07:37 AM
Patricia Feager, MBA, CRS, GRI,MRP
DFW FINE PROPERTIES - Flower Mound, TX
Selling Homes Changing Lives

Hi Pat Starnes - this is a great re-blog for sellers and all home owners. No one is exempt from dirt and dust and we must maintain our investment in home ownership.

Thank you!

Jan 13, 2016 08:30 AM
Allie Angeloni
Long Realty - Oro Valley, AZ

Excellent Re-Blog. Pat Starnes!  This is timeless, because who ever thinks of those window sills, when blinds are down, until someone goes over to look out that window, or for us 'shorties', who sees the tops of those frigs!  Good reminders for all - thanks! 

Jan 14, 2016 09:26 AM
Joan Cox
House to Home, Inc. - Denver Real Estate - 720-231-6373 - Denver, CO
Denver Real Estate - Selling One Home at a Time

Pat, what a fantastic post to reblog, and Kathy always nails it!   These areas do need to be sparkling! 

Jan 15, 2016 10:04 PM
Sharon Tara
Sharon Tara Transformations - Portsmouth, NH
Retired New Hampshire Home Stager

Glad to see this post being shared....sellers often overlook these spots!

Jan 19, 2016 10:21 PM
Debbie Reynolds, C21 Platinum Properties
Platinum Properties- (931)771-9070 - Clarksville, TN
The Dedicated Clarksville TN Realtor-(931)320-6730

It's pretty much the same for our rental properties and those forgotten areas seem to be all the same. We include the checklist in our leases and then send them over again as a reminder of the areas we will check on the final walk through.

Jan 20, 2016 10:12 PM
Pat Starnes-Front Gate Realty
Front Gate Real Estate - Brandon, MS
601-991-2900 Office; 601-278-4513 Cell

Debbie Reynolds - sending the checklist to tenants is a great idea. Many people forget to clean these areas. As I mentioned earlier, ceiling fan blades are a sure telltale sign that you forgot to clean.

Jan 20, 2016 10:15 PM