By Claire Spahr
Hey guys, it’s Claire with Bluebird Real Estate + Art. Exciting news! You have a showing scheduled in half an hour. Your house is show-ready like we discussed, right? Oh but, since the pictures were taken a little bit of life happened? OK, here is my 25-minute guide to last-minute showing preparation! Ready?
- 3 MINUTES: Take out the stinky food trash. If the trash can is in the garage and it happens to be a stinky load, just place it right outside or on the side of the garage, in other words out of the areas where your prospective buyers will be walking, and smelling.
- 3 MINUTES: Clear and clean the Kitchen and Bathroom Countertops. Remember how you designated a large junk drawer like we discussed? Good. Now is the time to use it. Spray and wipe down the counters and mirrors with a simple cleaner, the fresh scent will help the buyers feel at home (whether or not they are actually slobs in their own space)! Remember, DO NOT USE AIR FRESHENER. Some buyers are allergic, some think you’re trying to hide something, and some just don’t like it.
- 6 MINUTES: Clear the clutter: Remember when I told you about placing empty laundry baskets at the floor of every closet? Great. Do a 6-minute sweep of all LEGOs, shoes, dog toys, books, magazines, what-have-you. All that stuff goes into those laundry baskets behind closed doors!
- 6 MINUTES: Make the beds: Hard to explain, but there’s just something kind of creepy about a showing with an unmade bed. Kinda feels like the owner didn’t know you were coming, and they might show up at any minute… awkward! The only thing worse than an unmade bed is dirty undies on the floor! I am assuming that you do not need me to to explicitly say, “no dirty undies on the floor,” but… you would not believe what these eyes have seen.
- 6 MINUTES: Turn on all, and I mean ALLLLL, the lights, lamps, spotlights, fake candles. DO NOT LIGHT REAL CANDLES. Open the blinds, shades, curtains, get that space as bright as bright can be.
- 1 MINUTE: Now… GET OUT. OUUUUTTTT. No matter how great of a host you are… buyers feel uncomfortable when the owner is around. GET OUT.
There it was 25 minutes. Remember, trash, countertops, clutter, beds, lights, out. Call me!