Selling Your Home With Small Children in the House

One common question I get asked is, “How am I going to keep my home presentable for showings when I have small children in the house?”

Oh Honey! I feel for you. Being a mom of 8, having sold a few homes myself, I know what it’s like. I was/am one of those moms who likes to play with my kids more than I like to clean around them. So I know the stress that goes into it. We don’t want to be upset with our kids for making messes, but we have that underlying thought that their messes might prevent the next person who sees our house from seeing it at it’s best.

Here are some tips for you.

#1 Ask your Realtor if you can have at least 30 minutes prior to a showing. If you implement my ideas, you should be able to get the house sparkling within 30 minutes.

#2 Have a written plan! Who is in charge of what during the 30 minutes? Little Susie picks up toys and puts them in the toybox. Johnny gathers all the dirty laundry he can find and tosses it into the empty dryer (little ones can reach the dryer). Baby Jenny sits quietly in her high chair eating a non messy snack.

#3 Clean as you go – For those of us who weren’t taught this nearly life saving skill, it can be tough to remember to clean up the spilled apple juice now!

#4 Do “Someone’s Coming” Drills with the kids. Practice the drill. Make it fun! You could come up with a little song that you all sing as you are cleaning the house for a showing.

#5 Have all non-essentials packed! This is especially great for toys. Get some plastic tubs and pack away all the toys. Bring out a different play tub each week. Usually the messes come because the kids have too much and get overwhelmed and bored. When there is a little bit, it seems to go much further.

#6 Have only enough dishes for one day. This will force you to keep the dishes clean and will make your cabinets look very spacious.

#7 Don’t leave the little niceties out when you aren’t showing the house. Have one cabinet that holds the “staging” items. After the house is all picked up and you’re ready to go out the door, go to the cupboard and pull out the staging items, running them around to their final locations.

#8 HIRE SOMEONE! Hire someone to clean the windows and do a deep cleaning of the house before you put it on the market. This will give you only spot checks to do rather than trying to bleach the grout 30 minutes before the showing.

#9 Baskets hide stuff My rule of thumb is that every flat surface should be clutter free. Walk through your house and find all the flat spaces that gather clutter. Now, assign a basket for each area. You can do a quick swoop of the clutter into the basket and hide it beneath a bed or place neatly in a closet. After the showing, you can put all those things back – if you really must!

At least three times a day, take 20 minutes to do a quick clean up. It’s amazing how much you can get finished in 20 minutes.

Any other ideas?