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You must often do several things before putting your home on the market. You may have to clean, repaint, depersonalize, stage, and get the house ready to sell. These steps will help make the house attractive to potential buyers. However, you still need to clean your house the right way.
Here is a handy guide on how to clean your home to prepare it for sale. This post also contains things to do before selling your home and steps for cleaning your house to sell. You can also read up on house cleaning checklists and expert tips for selling your house quickly.
Things to Do Before Selling Your Home
The following steps will help you get your house ready to sell.
Research your local housing market
One source for research on the local housing market is Realtor.com. You need to get an idea of the value of your home. Do a comparative neighborhood sales analysis to get an appropriate listing price.
Some things to note include the houses' features, location, and square footage compared to yours. For instance, if your home is smaller than your neighbor's, you may have to list a lesser selling price. Meanwhile, consider getting a reasonable listing price from a reputable realtor.
Enlist a professional real estate agent
A realtor, listing agent, or real estate agent can help you list your home. You can get a good word-of-mouth referral or find one at Realtor.com. Get a realtor with good neighborhood experience, connection to potential buyers, and competence with social media. The real estate agent should have a well-laid-out plan for selling your home.
Turn on light fixtures
When showing your house to potential buyers, your light fixtures and lamps must be turned on. There should also be working light bulbs. As such, you may need to buy more light bulbs and stock up on them.
Create a great first impression
The National Association of Realtors survey of buyers agents published in the 2021 Profile of Home Staging, up to 82% of buyers agents think deep cleaning your house helps set the stage for effective home staging.
This, in turn, enables buyers to visualize a property and personalize it as their future home. Indeed, dusty surfaces and dirty floors can turn potential buyers off. That is why you should deep clean your home before listing it.
Likewise, you need to continue deep cleaning it throughout the home-selling process.
Specifically, cleaning toilets, mopping floors, scrubbing bathrooms, cleaning rugs, and wiping surfaces would be best. This is where a professional cleaning company can come in handy.
Declutter and depersonalize your home
You must declutter the home and organize the space to make it attractive to potential buyers. One way to clear excess belongings and get your house ready to sell is to rent temporary storage units.
This way, you can safely and securely store your belongings while selling. In addition, you may need to depersonalize the home before selling it. This includes removing most framed photos, photo items, awards, and other personal items.
Perform needed repairs
Getting your handyman to make needed repairs is part of getting your house ready to sell. For example, your handyman may fix faulty locks, leaky faucets, running toilets, broken appliances, and wall cracks.
Repaint the walls
You may need to repaint the walls with neutral colors. This is especially true if overly bright colors, such as bright orange or green, have been used. Examples of neutral colors include light grays, whites, and light beiges. Aside from making your home more welcoming to potential buyers, the fresh coat of paint will help convey a blank slate while hiding any wall imperfections.
Stage your home
Studies show that staged homes sell faster on average. Thankfully, sprucing up your home's curb appeal and home staging its interior can be pretty affordable. For instance, you can landscape the yard, cut the grass, and add a fresh coat of paint to exterior walls.
Post high-quality photos online
You can employ a professional photographer to get high-resolution images of your staged home. This will attract potential buyers when you post the photos on online listings. You can get a referral to good photographers from real estate agents when you interview them.
Steps for Cleaning Your House to Sell
According to HomeLight reports, overall home values increase by average price gains of up to $1,728. In fact, home values can gain a 3-5% boost when you take the time to declutter and deep clean them.
You can take the following steps when cleaning your house to sell:
Declutter and depersonalize the home
Potential buyers should be able to imagine themselves living in the house. Thus, you should remove personal belongings such as family photos and knick-knacks on shelves. You must also clear off toiletries from bathroom sinks, empty out closets, and shelves, and remove stacks of papers from tables. Staging your home can include using drawer organizers and dividers to give drawers a neat appearance.
Sort out deep cleaning supplies
Certain cleaning products can damage surfaces. You need to identify the right cleaning products for your cleaning needs. The manufacturer or label instructions can give you an idea of how to use cleaning products.
Deep cleaning supplies include the following:
- Microfiber cleaning cloths
- Brushes
- All-purpose scrubs
- Cleaning gloves
- Paper towels
- All-purpose cleaners
- Oil soap wood cleaners
- Mr. Clean Magic Eraser
- Glass cleaners
- Stovetop cleaner kit
House cleaning checklist guide
Kitchen cleaning
- Dust off countertops and use the right cleaner to clean and polish surfaces.
- Remove shelves and use a non-abrasive scouring pad to clean tough stains. After that, you can apply a disinfectant.
- First, deep-clean ovens at 900-degree heat. Then use a non-abrasive sponge to wipe down dirt from ovens after they cool. Clean older ranged ovens with an oven cleaner spray.
- First, empty out the racks to deep clean dishwashers and clean with a soap and water mixture. Afterward, you can use vinegar and baking soda to remove odors and deep clean.
Bathroom cleaning
- Pour in a toilet bowl cleaner and let it soak in the toilet for up to 15 minutes. Then use a toilet brush to scrub. Flush the toilet and apply a deodorizer to the tank.
- A drain cleaner can help remove clogs from sinks and drains. A vinegar and water mixture is excellent for polishing bathroom fixtures. Likewise, you can use glass cleaners on chrome sink finishes and shower doors.
- Use bleach cleaner to remove mold from bathroom grout.
- Glass cleaners help give a streak-free shine to mirrors. Wipe the mirror with a paper towel.
Cleaning other areas of the house
Use the following cleaning tips to clean bedrooms, living rooms, and other house areas.
- Start from the ceiling and work down to the floor.
- Work from the back to front when cleaning floors. This way, you are less likely to backtrack over already-cleaned areas.
- Remove décor and nails from walls. Patch nail holes if necessary and dust the walls.
- Use an extended duster to clean ceiling fans.
- Remove cobwebs, clean doors and window frames, and wipe down lighting fixtures.
- Use glass cleaners for window glass cleaning.
- Apply Mr. Clean Magic Eraser on the scuff marks to remove them.
- Dust and polish furniture using a microfiber cloth and an appropriate cleaner.
- Always follow manufacturer instructions when cleaning electronics such as laptops, TVs, and LCD screens.
Floor cleaning
- Move your furniture out of the way and use a broom or vacuum to sweep and vacuum floors.
- Use a mop, bucket, and appropriate floor cleaning solution to mop floors.
- You can shampoo or vacuum carpets and professionally clean them if they are dirty.
Tips for Selling Your House Quickly
Houses sitting on the market for a while tend to sell for less. You can market and sell your home quickly using the following home-selling tips.
- Your realtor should know the current housing market and social media marketing strategies well.
- Be mindful of the type of renovations you perform on the home. Renovations that are costly and take long to finish can delay the home sale.
- Properly weigh the time and cost of home repairs and upgrades versus the impact on home value.
- A real estate agent can give tips on making your house ready to sell. Also, you can use a home affordability calculator to determine the current worth of your house.
- Use a good deep cleaning checklist to make the house ready to sell. This helps to guarantee a clean home that gets your listing buyer-ready.
How long does it take to sell a house?
Sales analysis from the National Association of Realtors indicates that the average period from listing time to home contract agreement is 18 days. However, this duration can depend on the location and other factors.
What is the best time to sell your home?
Many people generally consider the month of May to be the best time to sell houses. Houses can sell more quickly and for higher sums. Again, this depends on factors such as location and economic climate.
Clean Your Home Professionally for Sale
It is possible to rent the needed cleaning equipment from home improvement or grocery stores and do a DIY cleaning to sell your home. This can be the case after you have read this guide on cleaning your home to prepare it for sale.
However, a professional cleaning company has the needed specialist cleaning experience. Moreover, they can also have local agent resources, home buying, and home selling tips, and all it takes to get your home looking clean, fresh, and ready for potential buyers.