Preparing a house to sell can seem like a challenge, and it can seem like an especially difficult one if you throw children into the mix. Whether you are willing to make updates to your house or are selling a house as is, there are many things you can do to make it easier for your house to sell and for you to make the right decisions when it comes to your children.
Don’t Keep Your Children in the Dark
Leaving a home can be a huge emotional upset no matter how old you are, and it has the potential to hit children even harder. Children require a safe environment, and in most cases, a home provides a lot of that safety. Home is where their parents are, their toys reside, maybe even their pet. Even thinking about losing any of that can bring emotional turmoil to a child.
To help prevent these kinds of issues, be upfront with your children about the move. Give them plenty of advance notice, and give yourself plenty of room for patience when it comes to their pushback. Talking with your children provides the opportunity of making a move fun and exciting for them instead of something to be worried about.
Make Cleanup Easy for Showings
Unless you are able to move before your house is on the market, showings will likely happen sometimes when the children are home. Showings are more desirable than open houses when children are involved, as an open house can take a lot of time. And if your children are young, it may mean a lot of scary strangers in their safe spaces.
It can also be a struggle for many children to keep things neat and tidy while a house is being shown. Creating easy ways for cleanup to happen quickly can help this. Keep storage bins or a designated space for personal items to get stowed away during a showing.
Use only one bathroom if possible, and keep extra towels or rugs around for easy cleanup of counters and floors as necessary. It may also be helpful for you to create a showing checklist, so you remember to do things like lower toilet seats and opening blinds and curtains before potential buyers arrive.
Try To Make the Moving Process Easy and Relaxed
Moving everything in one day can be exhausting, extremely stressful, and a bad time for everyone, adding trepidation and upset to the new house experience. If you have the option, take some time with your move. Get some of your and your children’s belongings and toys into the new house before vacating the old one, so they can see that they will not be leaving their things behind but instead have a brand new space to explore and play in.
Keep Your Home Generically Appealing
While you may be thrilled with the mural you painted in your child’s bedroom, something like this may make your home less appealing to general buyers. Think about how houses look in all those home improvement shows that are so popular these days, and consider staging your house with these considerations.
Fewer family photos, special areas, murals, off-the-wall paint colors or designs, and many other things of this nature may be wonderful to you but may prove a negative to many home buyers. Neutral colors and simple decor are what’s best when showing and selling a home.
Get a Storage Space
If you can not get into your new space until you have sold your old space, it is worth it to invest in a storage unit, POD, or something similar to keep your boxes out of sight when potential buyers are around. While everyone knows that you have to move to sell a house, buyers do not want to see piles of boxes laying around in the house they are perusing.
This may also help with children moving because they are not tempted to look through those already packed boxes to find that one particular toy they are missing. Instead, that toy is already transitioning to a new space and a fun, exciting change and will be waiting for your child to discover when they get there.
Trying to sell your house is never easy, even in a sell-friendly market. However, by following these five tips, you can help minimize the stress for both yourself and your kids — ensuring a smoother, happier transition to a new home for your whole family!
