3 Steps to Prep Your Home Safely Before Listing

At this time, the real estate market appears unaffected during the pandemic.

For a homeowner looking to sell her house, that’s great news. In fact, homes are selling better than expected in some markets. Consequently, the enthusiasm in the real estate market may be triggered due to the stay at home order experienced by some states. Recent reports suggest homebuyers seek additional space in the interior and exterior to spread out since work, school and recreation at home have become the new normal over the last few months.

You may be optimistic about the real estate market now. Perhaps you’re ready to sell your house. However, you still have growing concerns about selling your house when life has gone a bit sideways with the pandemic.

Selling is a major concern; however, your number one priority is your family’s safety.

How can you show your house safely, and take advantage of the hot real estate market before homebuyer interest slows down? If you continue reading, you’ll find steps to prepare your house and be safe during this challenging time.

Safe Solutions to a Market-Ready Property

Most businesses have been required to shut down for weeks due to the pandemic. Conversely, a handful of industries qualify as essential businesses to meet the day-to-day needs of the population. Thankfully, real estate meets the requirements of an essential business. As you may know, realtors are allowed to serve clients through virtual meetings and also via face-to-face contact, if necessary, with specific guidelines to keep everyone safe.

As a result, service providers that complement the needs of the real estate market may also be allowed to serve you in some capacity as long as with certain safety precautions in place. (Please check with your local city or state ordinances to find out what service providers are allowed to serve you.) 

During this challenging time, you don’t have to compromise the visual marketing aspects of your house. Find out what steps you can take to show off your house to get the most amount or offer for it and keep you are your family safe.

First, hone your D-I-Y skills.

Based on this special situation, you may have extra time on your hands to brush up on the do-it-yourself skills you may have learned when you first purchased your house. The more you can do on your own, the better. Based on the safety precautions and guidelines placed by and on some professional services, preparation, work and clean-up procedures may take longer than usual. Perform the things around the exterior and interior that you know you’re good at completing without professional intervention. For the larger or more technical projects, leave those rest to a professional.

Next, look into professional service providers that have safety measures.

As mentioned, you might be handy (or not) at completing household projects, but you may want to conserve your physical energy for packing and other preparations to present a move-in ready property. During the state’s restrictions, check if certain home service providers are allowed to handle the technical updates and repairs, like any plumbing needs, A/C and heat, etc. that you’re not able to tackle. Also, reach out to a professional house cleaning service to complete a deep cleaning for that fresh appearance for photos and walk-through appointments.

Then, reach out to a home stager that provides remote (virtual) staging services.

In most states, professional home staging firms are allowed to certain services to promote safe practices during this time. Generally, initial consultations can still be performed via Zoom meetings, or Facetime for those who have an Apple device. The consultation will be different than meeting face-to-face in the home. However, a professional home stager can still provide quality-driven recommendations and suggestions customized to the needs of the individual home. You may also receive space planning and deisgn guidance associated with updating the house for sale.

All in all, doing what’s safe matters most. Hopefully, we can be back to the normal times soon. In the meantime, it is our sincerest wish that you and your family are safe at this time. If you need to sell fast and only feel comfortable with completing most projects on your own, that’s okay, too. Prior to investing your time and finances in your home prep, follow through with your realtor to get an overview of what buyers are looking for to improve your chances at getting the most from your home’s sale.

If you’re still unsure about your home’s presentation, contact Staged + Stylish for a chat to see if a remote consultation would be right for you.