Keeping you home clean and tidy for viewings can be difficult enough on a daily basis, but with young children in the house, it can be daunting. Sydney buyers who are inspecting high-end properties, expect an immaculate presentation. They don’t expect a home overrun with kid’s toys and its ensuing mess. So how can you keep your home in tip-top shape for viewings?
Declutter your home before viewings start
If you want to sell your home, now’s the time to declutter and get rid of anything you won’t take to your new home, including some of the kid’s toys. If you do this before the viewings start, you will have less items to keep clean and tidy for each viewings, which will become a blessings as time rolls on. So decide what needs to be sold, trashed, donated or given away, and you will have less to tidy prior to each viewing. You can even put items in storage, if you really want to keep them, but remember that the fewer items in your home, the faster you can be ready for viewings. Styling is also a consideration at this point, because you might consider placing all or part of your furniture in storage and replacing it with hired furniture that maximises the amount of space in your home. A decluttered home is much easier to keep clean and tidy on short notice than a home that is overwhelmed with furniture, toys and belongings.
Ask for at least two hours’ notice for viewings
At the upper end of the Sydney market, buyers expect to book a viewing, so you might have much more than two hours’ notice. Whilst a day’s notice will most probably be more suitable when you have young children, enforcing a minimum two-hour window does give you some breathing room. You have time to organise a baby bag while you wait for your little ones to wake from their naps, feed them, and head towards the car. It’s a good idea to prepare your destination beforehand, for example asking a friend if you can pop over for coffee at short notice, due to viewings, is a good idea.
Keep your kid’s toys in only one room
When you have little kids in the family, toys can be spread throughout your home, even if you have one dedicated playroom. In your two-hour window the last thing you want is to spend valuable time checking all the rooms for toys. You then need to carry all these toys to the playroom and pack them away before you attend to the children. When all these toys are in one room however, it doesn’t take long to pack them away and make the playroom look orderly and tidy. To make it even easier, always put toys away before nap time and at the end of the day, reducing the amount of toys you need to tidy in your two hour window. It’s good to remember that a large part of selling a property is staging, not only by increasing the perception of space, but also helping the buyers to imagine living in your home. This means you need to keep your home clean, tidy and looking as if it’s straight out of a magazine!
Make a list of essentials for the ultimate viewings
You want your home to present perfectly for every viewing, particularly if a family is on their second viewing. With only a two-hour window before the potential buyers arrive, it can be easy to forget something important, which is where a list becomes essential. Include on your list tasks like checking all the bathrooms, picking up used towels and closing the lids on toilets, emptying internal bins, filling the dishwasher with errant cups, and tidying shoes left outside the front door. You can also cut some flowers from the garden and arrange them around your home, but that might be a big ask if you have little kids to organise as well.
Keep an emergency bag ready and packed
Even though you are only leaving your home with the kids for an hour or so, it’s at short notice so you might forget something you need. Having a bag packed and ready to grab before locking the front door can be your saving grace. It can contain anything you might need in a hurry, for example disposable nappies and baby wipes, clean baby clothes, and toys and games for older kids. Also consider an esky for cold drinks, as well as some fruit or other treats suitable for the little ones or young kids. You never know what you will need to keep everyone happy for an hour away from home, so it’s better to be safe than sorry and pack everything you might need in a hurry.
With these few viewing tips, you should have no trouble leaving your home inside the two-hour window with kids in tow!
