Top Spring Cleaning Tips for Selling Your Home This Season
The spring season is an excellent time to list your home—buyers are more active during this time of the year, better weather makes for better photographs and videos of your home, and landscaping will be greener and more appealing. Spring brings more sunshine which automatically boosts your home’s curb appeal, but there are additional steps that you can take as a homeowner to ensure it looks its best when it hits the market. Remember, you only have one chance to make an excellent first impression with a potential buyer, so taking a little extra time and care in the preparation process will put you ahead of the curve as you market your home. Read on for our top eight spring cleaning areas to focus on this season.
1. Decluttering
If you’re listing your home for sale, that means eventually you’ll have to move out of it. Why wait until move-out day to go through and discard items that no longer serve you? Nothing says spring cleaning like taking inventory of your wardrobe, office, garage, and kitchen to toss everything doesn’t spark joy. This will make staging and presenting your home a much more seamless process down the line.
2. Deep Cleaning
Once you’ve removed unnecessary junk during your decluttering phase, you’ll want to give your home a thorough deep clean. Go an extra step beyond your usual cleaning routine. When vacuuming, make sure you vacuum baseboards and molding. When mopping, take the time to scrub the grout. When cleaning the kitchen, clean appliances like your stove, oven, and fridge.
3. Organization
It’s hard to find a buyer who isn’t interested in closet or storage space, so make sure that yours looks their absolute best. Put as many items as you can away, and for the items that are displayed, make sure they’re stored strategically—presenting the different opportunities for organization that a buyer might enjoy when they own the home in the future.
4. Curb Appeal
Touring buyers will be greeted by your home’s exterior first, so don’t ignore this crucial piece of the puzzle. After a long, rainy, messy winter, your home will likely need a little extra attention. Clean out rain gutters, power wash the moss off your driveway and any mud off of the walls, and make sure patio furniture looks cared for and not just an afterthought. Mow the grass, prune any garden beds, and feel free to add a few potted, healthy plans to frame your front door and welcome in buyers.
5. Repairs and Maintenance
Small repairs can go a long way when presenting your home as “problem-free” to buyers. Replace old window screens, fix leaky faucets, and paint walls for simple upgrades that you can easily do yourself at little cost.
6. Neutralizing
If you’re serious about staging your home—and keep in mind, studies show that staged homes fetch higher sales prices than non-staged homes—then you’ll want to remove any personal décor. Trade out family photos, sports memorabilia, and particularly bold decorations for neutral choices, like muted landscape paintings, vases, and books.
7. Odor Control
If you live somewhere, you’ll likely create odor—it’s just a fact of being human. From our shampoo to our dogs, we fill the house with our particular scents. However, you don’t want a buyer’s first thought when walking into your home to be about the way it smells—unless it’s positive! Be sure to air your home out before any viewings and consider utilizing fresh-smelling room sprays or vases full of fragrant flowers.
8. Professional Cleaning Services
If deep cleaning your entire home seems too daunting of a task, hire a professional. You might not have the time, ability, or resources to tackle a task of that magnitude, so enlisting the help of a cleaner could be well worth it. If you’re looking to cut costs, you can always do some of the cleaning yourself and then outsource the rest.
If you’re interested in buying or selling during this peak season, please contact me for guidance. The market is shifting, and you’ll want to take advantage of the opportune changes heading our way.