If you need to sell your home quickly – first things first – CLEAN IT UP
There’s a difference between deciding to sell your home – and needing to sell your home. If you need to sell your home, it’s likely you need to sell it sooner rather than later, in fact – it may be truly important that you sell it as soon as possible. You may need to sell quickly because you’re going through a divorce, you may have lost your job, or you may be dealing with bills or a loss of income that has caused you to miss one or more mortgage payments. You may even be in the process of losing your home, in fact – you may already be in full foreclosure. If the latter is true for you in any way – you are the people we’ve created Real Estate Reality Checks for.
Have you called a realtor come look at your house?
You do some research, and you call a realtor to come in, look at your house, and give you an estimate of its worth, and how quickly they could sell it. You schedule an appointment, and before the realtor arrives, you clean your home to get it ready. When you finish – you may feel like you’ve cleaned it well – or at least well enough to show. The realtor arrives.
What a real estate agent will “see” first when they see your home
Virtually 98.026% of the time the first thing a realtor will say when as they come in and begin the tour of your house is – “You need to clean this…. You need to clean this too… You’ll need to clean that up….” Depending on what kind of housekeeper you are, you may agree, but many of you may be shocked, and some of you might be insulted, because you felt you did what seemed like a thorough job of cleaning – or you thought you did.
Almost no home is ever “clean enough” for a real estate agent to list
The truth is that – for the vast majority of people – no matter how much time they spend vacuuming, washing, and scrubbing – it just won’t pass a realtor’s “white glove” test. They don’t make money unless your home sells, and they’re an experienced realtor – they absolutely know the kind of comments buyers make, and exactly what will quickly discourage them from buying a home. You might be surprised, but the cleanliness of your home is unbelievably important in making a sale. Frankly, your home will not be considered “clean enough” to show successfully unless it’s as immaculate as if it’s never been lived in.
When a home isn’t spotless – it sends potential buyers a negative message
If you doubt this, remember that your realtor’s job is to sell your home, and let’s face it, a realtor spends their days taking people through homes, trying to make a sale, because that’s the only way he or she makes any money. This means that she does, indeed, hear the comments that people make about homes, and she does, indeed, know what she’s talking about. She knows that houses that are perceived as “not very clean” are not just unattractive and unappealing, it makes a potential buyer think that the home isn’t well maintained, and that you don’t care about your home and so you haven’t kept it up.
The Psychology of Selling – the subliminal messages that say – “Don’t buy this home”
There are many, many things that go into the first, second, and third impressions a potential buyer will develop as they tour a home for sale. Many of them are so psychologically subtle that people aren’t usually even aware that they’re being influenced in some way. In reality, selling real estate draws on the exact same psychological principles that advertising uses to sell products – what do people respond positively to – and what do they respond negatively to? What colors, smells, visuals, and other subliminal messages will make a buyer “feel” like buying your home? And even more importantly – what will kill a sale?
When a house isn’t clean – it sends a message that it hasn’t been well cared for
When a prospective buyer walks into the front door of a home that isn’t quite clean, here’s an example of the kind of impressions that come up immediately:
- “Ugh, the first thing I’ll have to do is clean this home really well if we moved in…”
- “These people must be poor housekeepers, don’t they see this, or do they just not care?…”
- “If they don’t care – it hasn’t been well maintained…”
- “If the home hasn’t been maintained – then it probably already has problems we’ll have to deal with down the road…”
- “I don’t want to buy a home that already has problems…”
You see how this kind of thinking can snowball? And if they don’t walk away entirely, they are mentally ticking off how low they can go if they decide to make an offer on your home.
In life and selling real estate, Will Rogers got it right – “You never get a second chance to make a great first impression…”
Here’s what you need to do to get a home “clean enough to sell?”
When it comes to cleaning a home to sell it – many homeowners don’t understand that a “clean” house means far more work than just scrubbing floors and waxing furniture. The kind of cleaning it takes to put a house on the market and start showing it means not just doing a cleaning job that goes above and beyond a spring cleaning – or even a deep cleaning, it’s a two-step process that also entails moving, removing, changing, fixing, and replacing. So – first, before you can start to clean your house – Step 1 – you need to clear it out, and then – Step 2 – you need to clean until the house looks brand new – if possible.
Clean It Like Crazy Part I – Clear It Out – You will need to pick up and pack away all personal items, and every piece of extraneous, unnecessary “stuff” you can. Often, this can be something that is difficult for a “pro” to do for you, as you’re the only one who really knows what you want to keep, sell, give away, or perhaps use. The flip side of this coin is that it may be far easier to hire a professional organizer for this particular job. Dealing with personal “stuff” is very difficult for many people, and the cost may well be worth it in terms of getting your house cleared out and packed up quickly and with the least amount of agonizing. Sometimes a home “stager” does this kind of thing as well as staging your home, but whether you use a stager or a home organizer – the costs can vary greatly depending on the amount of things you have to deal with. Here are the suggested steps and items you can use as a checklist in getting your possessions under control:
- Rent a storage container and move things out – a lot of things
One of the first things they’ll tell you to do is to rent a storage container and start removing things from your home. The idea is, of course, “less being more,” in that too much “stuff” makes a house look smaller, and that’s never something you should do. Too much clutter, too much furniture, too many personal items – too much of anything makes a house look old, dated, and undesirable – no matter when it was built or how good the bones are.
So start packing so you can move out and can store the following things:
- Overlarge, heavy furniture
- Furniture that’s too big, or that blocks views & traffic patterns
- Books & freestanding bookshelves
- Appliances and/or fixtures that you want to keep (freezer, chandelier, etc.)
- All personal decorative items, pictures, knick-knacks, etc; anything that lives on top of a horizontal surface
- Extra small electrical appliances in kitchen
- Half your dishware & silverware
- Pots & pans that aren’t absolutely necessary
- Half of your clothes
- Half of your shoes
- Half of anything in storage cupboards (coats, sports equipment, household supplies, etc.)
- Unnecessary or rarely used items in pantry
- Unnecessary or awkward items in medicine cabinets
- Overlarge, heavy furniture – if you’ve got a lot of large, heavy pieces of furniture, or too much furniture, a house won’t show well. It will feel small and crowded.
- Furniture that’s too big, or that blocks views & traffic patterns – take out and store or sell furniture that blocks traffic patterns or views, or is just distressed and worn. It’s actually better for a room to seem a little bare and spare than to have too much furniture in it. Even if it’s a very nice piece, like your brand new sectional – if it’s overlarge for a room it will give the impression that you have far less square footage than you actually do. Move it out.
- Books & freestanding bookshelves – Pack up your books, and move them – and your bookcases – into the storage unit.
- Appliances and/or fixtures that you want to keep (freezer, chandelier, etc.) – If you have favorite “things” you’re taking with you, especially appliances or fixtures like chandeliers, etc., take them out and store them. Buyers may want something and ask for it to be included in the sale, and sometimes when you tell a buyer they can’t have something, it could blow a deal. If they never see it, they won’t want it.
- All personal decorative items, pictures, knick-knacks, etc – Pack up every single thing in the home that is personal to you and put it into storage, like family photographs, heirlooms, knick-knacks, refrigerator magnets, calendars, and art (unless the pieces are neutral and attractive). Depersonalizing your home is a powerful psychological tool in selling real estate. You want people to envision themselves living in your home, and they can’t do this if the entire home is feels like you and your family are still living there.
- De-clutter all horizontal surfaces; the tops of kitchen and bathroom counters, tables, desks, shelves, etc. – Look at places where day-to-day “stuff” tends to congregate – electrical appliances in kitchen, electric toothbrushes, blowdryers in bathroom, papers, office supplies, childrens toys, fireplace mantel decorations – go through your home and look at every horizontal surface, and clear it. You want very, very few items visible, and what is there – must be attractive.
- Remove and pack half your dishware, silverware, pots & pans all items that aren’t absolutely necessary; clear/neaten all foodstuffs in pantry – Clean and organize your kitchen cupboards, if you remove half of the dishware and silverware you have, and cull your spices and canned and boxed foods and stack them neatly, your kitchen will look spacious and attractive. It is absolutely guaranteed that potential buyers who walk through your home will check out your pantry and open all the doors and drawers in your kitchen to have a look inside. An impression of neat, clean, and organized immediately send the message “This home is well cared for, therefore it’s in good shape.”
- Remove half of the clothing in all closets, half the shoes, half the toys, closets, half of anything in any storage closet – and clean out your medicine cabinet – Storage – how much storage a home has is a crucial selling point. Paradoxically, your home may actually have a lot of storage, but if it’s all crammed with “stuff” it will seem as though you don’t, and a potential buyer will immediately think, “Hmm, no storage…. Won’t work for us…”
- Pack up at least half of the clothing and shoes in every closet; yours, your children’s, etc. – Remove enough so that you can see at least half of every clothing rod and half of the floor space, and half of the shelf space.
- Pack half of your “stuff,” half of your business/personal office equipment, half of the toiletries in your bathroom drawers, skis, sports equipment, heavy coats, Christmas ornaments, boxes of miscellaneous stored items, large amounts of stored household supplies – cartons of toilet paper, paper towels – put it all in the storage container. – Virtually every door in your home – large and small – we be opened and what’s inside will be inspected. Buyers have no compunction when it comes to checking anyplace where things are stored, and if you’ve left a jumbled, mess somewhere – they are sure to find it, and make a mental note of it. Interestingly, medicine cabinets are a favorite “snoop,” and what’s even more fascinating – what’s inside them can effect a potential buyers opinion of you, and thus – the worth of your home. So, if your medicine cabinets – or any other storage areas – contain very personal, potentially embarrassing, or questionable items, clean them up, throw them out, or put them away. (it’s incredible the little things that can affect a sale).
- Remove and store or give away worn furniture, furniture that’s too large, dark or heavy – You may think your furniture is lovely, you may love your furniture, it may mean a lot to you, but if there’s too much of it, it’s dark and heavy, or its too big – it will make a house look smaller, older, and uninviting. It’s better to have your rooms look a bit empty and spare than to look overcrowded. In some instances, you may even have to rent furniture so you can “stage” a home effectively.
Clean It Like Crazy Part II – Clean It Until It Looks “Brand-New” – Once you’ve cleared out the clutter, the personal items, the extraneous furniture, equipment, supplies, and extra “stuff” that a home and family accumulates – you’ll be in a position to tackle the job of cleaning your home. The choice of whether to do this yourself or to bring in help is determined by your own health, energy level, budget – and the amount of work that needs to be done.
Hiring professionals to clean is not as expensive as other items that need to be done to your home, so it may be worth your while to look into the cost of bringing someone in to do the work. Professional cleaning companies will generally use lists like the following to delineate what areas they will contract to handle:
- Clean windows inside and out
- Clean, wax, polish all hard flooring, wood/tile/linoleum/vinyl
- Vacuum/clean carpets
- Vacuum/shake/clean area rugs
- Clean/dust walls, high corners (cobwebs)
- Clean & dust all ceiling fan blades and light fixtures, wash lamps, replace all burned-out bulbs
- Dust and polish all hard furniture
- Dust and polish all shelving units
- Clean all upholstered furniture
- Clean/polish all kitchen counters, bleach grout
- Clean/polish all kitchen appliances
- Clean/polish all sinks, faucets, and handles
- Clean inside of dishwasher
- Clean inside of refrigerator
- Clean oven
- Clean microwave
- Clean stovetop
- Clean inside & outside of washer/dryer
- Clean tops of all appliances
- Clean/polish kitchen counters
- Clean/organize pantry
- Clean/organize kitchen shelves
- Clean/dust baseboards & molding
- Clean/bleach/polish toilet/tub/shower/doors/sink
- Clean/polish mirrors/bathroom counters
- Change linens bedrooms & bathrooms
- Wipe down all doors
- Clean knobs, light plates, outlets
Approximate costs to deep clean a home to sell:
While it can be very reasonable to bring someone in to clean your home on a regular basis, if you hire a cleaning person or crew for a one-time, “deep” clean – the cost will be higher, and it will depend on the number of hours. As is true of everything, the cost of bringing pros in to clean your home will vary depending on the area you live in, the size of your home, the number of bathrooms, the condition of your home, whether you have pets, how many people are on the job, etc. It’s best to ask a company if they can come in and look at your home and give you an estimate before they start, so you have an idea of what you’re getting into. Here are some ball-park estimates for a one-time deep cleaning:
- 1300-1500 sq ft home (7 rooms) $150-$300 (4-6 hours)
- 2000-2400 sq ft home (9 rooms) $200-$400 (6-8 hours)
Approximate costs to clear out & organize a home to sell – the benefits of a home stager:
A professional organizer is usually hired to deal with one specific area of a home, e.g. – a home office, a closet, kitchen, children’s playroom, etc. They will generally take several hours to a day or two to completely organize a room so that it works efficiently. Clearing clutter and organizing is one thing, but to sell you house – you also need someone who can look at your home from the a real estate agent’s viewpoint, and for this a home stager is often your best bet.
Rather than physically “do” the cleaning and moving themselves, home stagers will generally give you instructions on how to clear your home, what to move, remove, take out, and/or replace, and then help you follow through. They may help you hire labor to do the heavy lifting, and facilitate the work. After this, they can help you arrange each room for maximum positive effect on a potential buyers impressions of your home, and help you make it more appealing and thus – much more likely to sell.
There are innumerable variables for how much it costs to bring in a professional to clear clutter and/or stage your home, and many of them involve how much of the work you do yourself. These are some general estimates of some of the costs involved:
- Renting a storage unit, approx. $35 to $50 a month for 5’ X 10’
- Renting a “Pod-like” on-site storage container, approx. $200 to bring it to your home, set it up, then take it to a storage facility where monthly storage is generally free for one month, then approx. $35-$50 per month
- Home organizer $35 – $85 per hour
- Home stager, usually $100 – $200 initial consultation fee, then $350 – $800 on average, not including cost of rental furniture & decor if necessary
