Also, if Laundromat doesn’t have a vending machine for detergent, ask woman if you can borrow some of hers. Insist on paying her back by paying for her washing or dryer use. Either way, once you’ve got her talking, keep chatting about clothes as long as that stays interesting – once it starts to get lame and boring, ditch topic! Make sure and introduce yourself and get her name, then start asking her about herself. Find out where she works, what she does for fun, what movies or bands she likes, what her favorite types of food are. You can use that info as she’s packing up her clothes to leave – Say, “Thanks so much for help. I’d love to pay you back by taking you out for some Italian food (or going to hear that band you like, or see that movie you said you’d been dying to see.)”

And one last thing, be ready with an explanation of why you’re using this particular Laundromat if it’s not in your neighborhood, just in case she asks. Make sure you pick one that’s not too far from home, and just say one in your neighborhood was full and you didn’t want to wait for a machine. Now grab some change, a pile of dirty clothes, and get ready to bag that babe!

Kitchen & Bathrooms – Once inside, two rooms that go through most scrutiny are bathrooms and kitchen. These rooms MUST be immaculately clean. They also must look like they have lots of room. To accomplish this:

· clean thoroughly, especially floors, toilets, sinks and tubs

· be sure there is no mold or mildew to be found

· check grout in tubs and sinks, it needs to be white – bleach it or re-grout if it’s necessary

· clear your counter-tops as much as possible – in bath, leave out only one decorative item, in kitchen leave out only necessary appliances, as few as possible

· clear everything off front and top of fridge

· put all cleansers and cleaning items out of sight

· pack for moving some of stuff in cabinets, you only want them to be about 60%-70% full

· put all personal items away, there should be no clutter, no bills or mail laying out, no personal items pinned to a bulletin board or attached to fridge with a magnet

Remember, you want to continue fantasy. The potential buyer should be able to imagine that when they move in, there will be plenty of space to grow. You don’t want to remind him that he’ll have to do any cleaning, seeing cleaning products is a reminder. The personal items? Do your best, it’s hard for “buyer’s fantasy” to be fulfilled when your photos and personal items are everywhere, you want him to imagine “his” personal items in those spaces, having yours there makes it harder for his imagination.

Living Areas / Bedrooms

The rest of house needs to follow same rules as above.

· everything needs to be clean

· keep floors mopped and vacuumed

· make all beds every morning

· keep clutter out of sight

· if you have a room that’s an odd color, paint it an off-white color. Light colors make rooms look bigger and off-white will go with every decorating scheme – “buyer’s fantasy” doesn’t include any time for re-painting

· if you have repairs to make, get them done

· if carpets need to be cleaned, clean them

Making your space appear bigger is your goal, again, you want “buyer fantasy” to continue. You want your house to appear so roomy that buyer won’t be able to fill space. Eliminating some of your furniture may help a room look bigger and packing away some of stuff in your closets will help sell your house as one that has “lots of storage space”. Your goal should be for your closets to only be 50%-60% full.

Packing Tip

Here’s a tip to help you get your cabinets and closets down to 50% full – go ahead and start packing for your eventual move. Yeah, why not? Your goal is to sell your house, right? So you’ll be moving, right? Then go ahead and get some of it done and here’s a helpful tip to get you started and make unpacking in your new home easier as well.

Most people have stuff they

A. use every day

B. use sometimes

C. rarely use

Start by packing your “C” items in nice stackable boxes that aren’t too large so they’re easy to handle. Mark side of each box with where stuff came from, i.e., closet, which room it came from, i.e., Brittany’s Room, and put a BIG letter “C” on side. Maybe even use some bright paper, like yellow or orange and tape it to side with letter written really big with a Magic Marker. Stack these boxes in garage, people don’t much care how crowded garage is, they just figure you’ve started packing. The “buyer’s fantasy” doesn’t put those items back into house.

If that doesn’t get your closets and cabinets down to where you want them, then start packing your “B” items. If you use bright colored paper to mark your “Cs” and “Bs”, use one color for all your “Cs” and a different color for all your “Bs”.

When it’s time for you to move, you will then have to pack all your “A” items. Again, use yet a different color of paper. Now, when you get to your new home, you won’t have to unpack everything at once and you’ll know which boxes you’ll need immediately.

Hopefully your situation will allow you to use some of these strategies to help you get most money from your home. But don’t let all this stuff stop you from getting your house on market, don’t use all things that need to be done as an excuse to not get going. Do what you can, get house listed, start showing it and keep plugging away.

Good luck with process!