Selling your home with kids is totally doable. It’s just a wee bit more work. Here are 25 Tips for making the experience a little more bearable.
- Get out if you can: take a holiday, stay with family or head to the cottage while your house is listed for sale. Tidying up every day before showings and leaving your home every time a potential Buyer wants to see it can be stressful. Can’t skip town? That’s ok….we support lots of families with kids through the selling process. There are just a few more things on your to-do list.
- Declutter ALL the kids’ stuff – To make this livable, invest in some inexpensive baskets with lids that you can shove all the necessary toys into in each room they play in.
- Remove the clutter in your entryway or foyer. It’s easy for kids stuff to accumulate here and you probably don’t want that to be the first impression Buyers have of your home.
- Put away the sweet family photos. Sorry! But, it’ll be that much more exciting to see them in your new home.
- If you have babies, ask your Stager for advice on the baby gear. Pare down what you can and get tips on where to place the baby gear for minimal impact on Buyers. For example: store your big stroller in your car if you have one, collapse the pack and play and place it in a closet, and remove any evidence of the baby from the master bedroom during showings.
- Put the potty away. Like, away away.
- Clean the bathroom – whether you have boys or girls, there’s pee on your floor. You don’t smell it. Buyers will.
- Tiny shoes leave big messes – when you pick up the shoes, sweep the up the leftovers.
- Find a new place out of site for school books and homework – see baskets above.
- Mornings are a big rush. Before leaving the house for the day, take a moment to ensure there’s no sign of lunch assembly, sticky jam and bits of egg.
- Make sure all the colourful plastic in the kitchen is out of site. This goes for bottle accessories any other child-related things that live on the counters.
- Sweep the sand from the porch and front steps – where does it come from?
- Check the laundry for soaking clothes. Buyers prefer not to see tiny underpants floating in laundry basins.
- Look in closets and under beds for anything that might freak out a buyer – rubber spiders, sandwich crusts etc. Why are they looking under the beds you ask? Who knows, but better safe than sorry.
- Make room in the top drawer for favourite stuffies, so they have a place to “sleep over” when the house is staged.
- Check the kid-height glass for fingerprints – yes you just cleaned it yesterday. Check it again.
- If you have tweens and teens, make sure the laundry is done and the hockey bags are hidden. Teens are smelly.
- Make sure you wipe down the bathroom your teens use to get ready. There may be makeup, toothpaste, hair left in the sink after they say they cleaned up.
- Ask your teens to keep toiletries under the sink – including their shampoo, conditioner, razor and anything else they keep in the shower. And put away that lipstick collection!
- The bedroom check: Double check your kids haven’t cleaned their rooms by stuffing everything into the closet.
- Warn your kids that people will look inside closets – if they have private things, they need to be in private places. (That goes for everyone.)
- Make sure the video games are away. Games, controllers, cords, consoles and characters can make a big mess in a hot minute. Check that area for order before showings.
- Check the backyard to make sure the toys haven’t spread out again. Try and contain them in a garage, shed or box if possible.
- If you have a pool, make sure the gates are closed in case Buyers happen to have kids with them. We don’t recommend you bring kids to showings, but it certainly happens.
- Ask your Stager for tips on how to store scooters, bikes, wagons and more to ensure Buyers have clear, safe access to all your outdoor space.
