If you’re selling a home in DC ranch, you know you need to keep it ready to show while it’s on the market. But where do you start? This guide explains.
10 Tips to Help You Keep Your Home Ready to Show While It’s on the Market
When you’re selling your home, it has to be in showing-ready condition at all times. Check out these ten tips that will help you keep your home ready to show while it’s on the market:
- Avoid leaving dishes in the sink
- Create a cleaning schedule
- Don’t hang on to mail
- Keep your cabinets tidy
- Neutralize odors frequently (and naturally)
- Only plug in chargers when you’re using them
- Send everything you don’t use to storage
- Stop yourself from using countertops as catch-alls
- Think about boarding your pets
- Use bins to stash personal items
Here’s a closer look at each.
Tip #1 to Keep Your House Ready for Showings: Avoid Leaving Dishes in the Sink
Though it’s a pain, you should do the dishes each time you use them. Try to convince yourself and your housemates to put dishes directly in the dishwasher when they’re finished. While you’re at it, make a habit of wiping down the counter tops each time you’re in the kitchen.
Tip #2 to Keep Your House Ready for Showings: Create a Cleaning Schedule
Try to create a workable cleaning schedule that you and your housemates can stick to. For example, you may decide to sweep and vacuum the floors each morning, dust in the afternoons, and handle laundry somewhere in between or overnight. After the schedule is in place, do your best to stick to it so that your home is always ready to show at a moment’s notice.
Related: 7 secrets to cleaning your house for a short-notice showing
Tip #3 to Keep Your House Ready for Showings: Don’t Hang on to Mail
After you check the mail, sort it and do the right thing with it immediately. If there’s something that you need to hang on to, consider putting it in a binder that you can carry with you when you leave. Other than that, pay bills immediately, recycle junk mail and open letters right away before putting them where they belong.
Tip #4 to Keep Your House Ready for Showings: Keep Your Cabinets Tidy
Buyers can, and will, open your cabinets, drawers and pantry. Make sure each of these spaces is as spotless as can be. It’s not that you are concerned that buyers will judge you for your messy cabinets; it’s that you want to show that you’re a neat and organized person, which buyers see as someone who takes care of their home.
Related: 5 ways to depersonalize your home to sell
Tip #5 to Keep Your House Ready for Showings: Neutralize Odors Frequently (and Naturally)
Your home should smell fresh every time a prospective buyer comes to check it out, and that means you’ll have to take steps to neutralize odors frequently. Rather than using candles, incense or other artificial scents, consider boiling lemon slices, dropping citrus fruit down your garbage disposal and turning it on, or even simmering cider on your stovetop (seasonally, of course).
Tip #6 to Keep Your House Ready for Showings: Only Plug in Chargers When You’re Using Them
Charging cords looks sloppy hanging from the wall, so make sure you unplug yours when you’re not using them. Find a good space to wrap them and tuck them away, such as inside a coffee table drawer, so buyers don’t see them hanging from every wall in your home.
Tip #7 to Keep Your House Ready for Showings: Send Everything You Don’t Use to Storage
If there’s anything in your home that you haven’t used in the past six months or more, it’s time to put it in storage, donate it or sell it. These things comprise clutter, which is exactly what you don’t want buyers to see. Scour each room in your home for items like these, and when you find them, act on them right away. That may mean creating a listing on the Facebook Marketplace or using a similar service, bagging things up to donate to your favorite charity, or boxing your belongings for storage. And here’s a pro tip: don’t keep these bags or boxes in your home. Take them directly out to your vehicle so the next time you leave, you can take them where they need to be.
Related: 3 ways to revitalize your bathroom on a budget
Tip #8 to Keep Your House Ready for Showings: Stop Yourself From Using Countertops as Catch-Alls
It’s tough to break the habit of dropping things on the kitchen counter or table when you’re not ready to put them away, but it’s very important when you’re selling your home. You need to keep these surfaces clear so prospective buyers don’t think that your home is cluttered. Besides, clutter makes homes appear smaller, and that’s not what you want to show buyers.
Tip #9 to Keep Your House Ready for Showings: Think About Boarding Your Pets
It can be tough to keep your home showing ready when you have pets, so some people decide to send their four-legged family members to stay with a friend while their home is on the market. If you choose to keep your pet at home with you, you’ll have to do a bit of extra cleaning before prospective buyers come in for a tour. You may need to vacuum or sweep more frequently, dust more often or pick up pet toys. One thing’s for sure, though: you have to remove all traces of your pet before someone comes to see your home. That means taking pet beds, food and water dishes and toys with you (and taking your pet, too) when you leave for a showing.
Related: The 5 telltale signs it’s time to sell your home in DC Ranch
Tip #10 to Keep Your House Ready for Showings: Use Bins to Stash Personal Items
Buy a few plastic tubs and use them to stash your personal items while your home is on the market. That goes for shampoo and body wash, toothbrushes and toothpaste, kids’ toys, and other items that prospective buyers don’t want to see. You can tuck these bins away before a showing or bring them out to your car when you leave.
Are You Selling a Home in DC Ranch?
Thinking about selling your home in DC Ranch? Call us at 480-360-0281 to find out how we’ll market it to all the right buyers. If you’re also looking for a new home, we’d love show you any listing in the community. Let us know what you’re looking for and we’ll be happy to search for something that’s a perfect match for your needs.
While you’re here, check out our:
- Country Club Village homes for sale
- Desert Camp Village homes for sale
- Desert Parks Village homes for sale
- Silverleaf Village homes for sale
Don Matheson
Realtor | Founder
The Matheson Team
RE/MAX Fine Properties
21000 N. Pima Rd., #100, Scottsdale, AZ 85255
866-613-8356
don@scottsdalerealestate.com
