If you are looking to sell your home in the Seattle area, this year may be a good time to do it. However, selling your home and moving to a new one could be too much hassle to manage on your own. To make the project more manageable, many homeowners hire professionals to help them throughout the process, including cleaning services.
In this blog post, you'll learn the common cleaning needs when selling a house. And yes, cleaning services might be your best option!
Are you supposed to clean your house before selling it?
Most people expect you to clean the home before closing the deal. But also, a lovely and clean home can leave a favorable impression on every potential buyer. Remember that they will be poking around and looking through every inch of your home, searching for every detail.
While you could sell a house in poor condition and messy, it might be a bad financial decision. Unless you are selling your home "as is," keeping it in top shape is important to raise the asking price.
However, cleaning your house before selling it is more complex than it looks. When is the perfect time for cleaning? How clean should it be? Should you clean it yourself or hire professional cleaners? Here are some answers.
What are the benefits of professionally cleaning your house during the selling process?
Benefit #1: A top shape house can raise the price
Your home's cleanliness levels may not raise the value of your property as the location or size does. However, most buyers won't be making a cold-headed decision. After a professional cleaning service, your home will look in better shape. If you show a clean and good-looking home, people will easily picture themselves living in it and pay for the price you ask.
Also, a dirty house can seem like it desperately needs maintenance. Many potential buyers will be looking carefully for needed repairments and maintenance to use later to bargain the price. That's why real estate experts recommend making improvements and repairments before selling the house.
Benefit #2: Free your time: cleaning is time-consuming
Cleaning is important when selling your home, but it is also time-consuming. You can free time in your schedule by hiring professionals to help you with the daunting tasks.
Many people take pride in keeping their home spotless, but you could use that time to do something else. The sale process also involves a lot of hassle and paperwork—especially if you're selling it without a realtor.
Benefit #3: Create an appealing and new-looking living space
Although most selling homes are not brand new, people expect them to feel and look like they are. For some people, dust in hidden spots or stained surfaces could be a dealbreaker. Deep cleaning your home and taking the dirt out of every corner will give it a "brand-new look" that potential buyers want.
Benefit #4: Professionals cleaners achieve professional results
We already mentioned that cleaning thoroughly is crucial. However, while cleaning the house where you live, you might see it from a homeowner's perspective. For example, minor stains could seem normal for you and skip your attention. Hiring professionals to clean every corner inside your home is a great way to guarantee you are not missing any spot!
When is the best time to clean the house?
1. Deep-clean before your home enters the market
Should you deep-clean your house before selling? Absolutely yes! You should deep-clean your home even before it hits the market.
Getting potential buyers to pay the asking price is harder than it may seem. However, as we mentioned above, deep cleaning the house is an effective way to make it more appealing to buyers.
Focusing first on cleaning your home top to bottom will make it easier to keep spotless during the whole selling process. Include every task usually left out from your regular cleaning schedule, like wiping the window sills or vacuuming carpets. Clean high areas too, like ceiling fans and light fixtures.
Also:
Keep clutter to a minimum: A free and uncluttered living space is crucial before showing your property. Potential buyers are looking for a place to turn into their home, and your own decorations will leave little room for it.
2. Cleaning before an open house or a showing
As you may already know, the most important time to clean your home is before showing it to a potential buyer. If you hire a deep cleaning service before starting the selling process, a quick touch-up would be enough to keep your home spotless.
Focus on wiping down commonly touched surfaces like light switches and door handles. If you have stainless steel appliances, make sure to get rid of fingerprints using a microfiber cloth.
3. Don't forget the move-out cleaning!
Before closing and handing the keys, the last part is taking out everything that isn't included in the home and doing a move-out cleaning.
After removing large furniture and appliances, hidden dirty spots can become visible. Although you are not forced to leave the home spotless, most real estate purchase contracts stipulate that the house should be "broom-clean."
A move-out cleaning involves sweeping and vacuuming the floors, wiping built-in cabinets, cleaning kitchen appliances, and tackling the hidden spots we mentioned before. What makes move-out cleaning hard to manage is that you'll likely be handling your move-in process as well.
Move in/out cleaning services in Seattle
Many people prefer to schedule a move in/out cleaning service and focus their time and energy on their new home. At Rain City Maids, we know how stressful moving can be. Your attention should be focused on your new home, not the house you sold! Let us do the cleaning!
Request your quote and schedule your move-in/out cleaning service online.
