How Do Home Sellers With Young Kids Keep Their Home Show-Ready?

If you’re selling your home and you have young kids living in it, here are some tips to keep it show-ready at all times.

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How do you keep a home show-ready if you have young kids living in the house?

We deal with a lot of out-of-town buyers, and we often only have one shot to get ahold of these folks and schedule a showing. If your house is a wreck and they miss out on that appointment, we may not get another chance at a showing. Every showing counts, because it only takes one person to make a sale happen.

Now, to keep a home show-ready, there are three tips to remember before putting that home on the market.

First, take about half of your kids’ toys and put them in a storage bin. Don’t take away all of their favorite things, though—leave out the top two or three items they love to play with. When I had to sell my house and my son was four years old, I boxed up half of his toys and moved them into the attic. A few weeks down the road, I noticed that he never asked for those toys again, so we ended up donating them to the Goodwill. After we sold that home, I did the same thing when it was time to renovate our new home. Guess what? He never asked for those toys again either.

The point is, kids can sometimes have more toys than they know what to do with, and this tip ensures that their other toys are still there in case they do want to play with them again. If you can declutter and eliminate things like these on the front end, it will make scheduling last-minute showings easier.

Every showing counts, because it only takes one person to make a sale happen.

Second, leave an empty storage bin out in case you do schedule a last-minute showing. This way, you can collect all the toys and things lying around, stuff them into the container, and put that container away. Violà—clean house!

Third, if you already have a minimal number of items scattered about, keep a regular nightly cleanup schedule so the pile doesn’t grow on you. I know everyone’s super busy with work, school, etc., but if you maintain a nightly ritual like this, it minimizes the chaos of cleaning up for a last-minute showing.

If you have questions about this topic or would like to know more about preparing your home for the market. Don’t hesitate to call or text me. I’m here to help.