We recently sold and purchased a new home and boy has it been a whirlwind. This was my first experience selling but my second experience buying. I wasn’t quite sure what I was in for. Thankfully, my realtor made the process pretty seamless. Here are some tips I learned for selling my home.

Pay for a deep clean

Living with two dogs and toddler can turn my house upside down. It’s hard for me to find time to clean baseboards and remove every inch of dust. I didn’t want to take any chances when getting my home ready for selling. The first step in the process is having a photographer come out and showcase how amazing your house is. And we all know that bad pictures do not always translate into a sell.

My husband and I specifically put money aside to have local cleaning folks come by and do a full deep clean of the house. Even though our house is just over 1500 square feet, it still took three people and six hours to make the house look brand new. Once the ladies were finished, it looked like we just moved in! The couple hundred dollars we spent was well worth it.

Declutter and Start Packing

Over the years, it seems like we continuously accumulate junk. As we were preparing our house to sell, it was time to start getting rid of unnecessary items. I tore through my closet and donated unwanted clothes and shoes. I found a new home for all of my son’s infant clothing. My husband packed up his office and only left out items he uses everyday. Before we knew it, our garage was filling with boxes. This has given us a jump-start on packing for when we officially move into our new home.

I highly recommend starting this process before your house is on the market. Very few people actually enjoy packing. Dealing with the junk before it makes it to your new place is ideal.

Make Minor Improvements

Lived in homes always need a little touch-up when moving out. Between baby gates and moving furniture, my walls needed some patching. My husband and I had a professional patch some large holes in our living room and then we painted an accent wall ourselves. It was a lot easier than I thought and the staff at places like Home Depot and Lowes are very helpful.

I took some leftover paint and touched up door frames and cabinets. Just those few things make the biggest difference. If you see an eye sore when looking around your home, it’s probably a good idea to fix it. Who ever is looking to move in will most likely notice it too.

Stage Your Home

The final step in getting ready to sell is staging your home. Our realtor recommended removing any personal photos and clearing the counter tops. This helps the potential buyer imagine themselves living there. If they see your face hanging all over the walls, it might be a little harder for them to picture it as their own. I also tried to minimize toys in my son’s room. Not everyone has kids or wants kids, so it was important to make our house appear versatile for everyone’s needs.

I didn’t want to leave blank walls so purchased a few decorative signs. Below them, I placed basic candles and cleared the rest of the bookshelf. On our accent wall, I placed a few paintings that had the same colors as our walls. We made sure everything looked organized, including toy boxes and dog beds. We placed everything else neatly out of sight.

I know it can sound so overwhelming, especially if you’re balancing kids, work and life. But all of this hard work really paid off. Within the first week of listing our house, we had three cash offers! We then were able to start looking for a new place and work on finalizing that deal. Overall, this process is going to take us less than two months from beginning to end. And if I can do it, you can do it.

Good luck selling your home!