Back-to-school season can be pretty nutty—shoving kids out the door every morning in a frantic attempt to chase down the bus, school supplies and to-be-signed papers littering literally every exposed surface of your home, daily bouts of homework-inflicted tears and Shakespeare-worthy monologues of whining… Yeah, it can be kind of a headache.
Now add in trying to sell a home on top of all that. But before you start hunting down the nearest bottle of aspirin (or maybe a box of tissues), take a minute to read our tips. Because it is possible to sell a home during back-to-school season without losing your mind. Here’s how.
Tame (read: hide) the Chaos with Storage
In a perfect world, all those papers, pencils, books, and backpacks would have a place… and, you know, they’d actually get put in said places. In reality, you’re lucky if you can get all the stuff out of sight in time for a showing.
Make taming the chaos easier on yourself by investing in some storage bins or benches—preferably some that either double as furniture or can be easily hidden away. It might not be perfect-world organization, but, hey, if you can quickly stash shoes and backpacks in a stylish ottoman, you can probably chalk that up as a win.
Pro tip: Get the kids involved! Have them identify their most important day-to-day items and separate these from things they won’t need or use as frequently. Daily items should be easy to access and store.
Be a Stickler for Chores
You’ve got a showing in an hour… and the dust bunnies are beginning to venture from under the couch, the lawn resembles something from an Amazonian jungle, and you’re pretty sure a science experiment involving a lot of green slime just exploded all over the kitchen.
Don’t let this be your story! Clean your home, tidy your yard—and keep them maintained with regular attention and, yes chores!
Pro tip: Get the kids involved by doling out regular weekly duties and special before-showing tasks, like taking out the trash, vacuuming, or wiping down countertops. (And maybe set rules about the types of science experiments that can be performed within a certain window of a showing).
Have an Escape Plan
Not every showing will be conveniently timed when the kids are at school. So you’ll want to have a plan for those Saturday mornings or Wednesday afternoons when a buyer wants to come take a tour… and the kids are busy turning the basement stairs into a laundry-basket sledding hill.
Pro tip: Have a couple of “escape route” ideas for different days—homework outings to the library on weeknights, brunch on Saturday, or an afternoon at the park on a sunny day.
Pack for the Great Escape… in Advance
It’s T-minus 5 minutes until showing time and you’re scraping the last of the green science-experiment-slime from the kitchen ceiling. Good thing you already packed your Emergency Escape Pack in advance! So as soon as you get that last little bit of gooky green from the underside of the microwave, you can grab the kids and hightail it out of there—without worrying if you’ve remembered snacks, toys, or school supplies.
Pro tip: Have an Escape Pack with everything you might need for any of your Great Escapes pre-stashed in your trunk so use your time before the showing making sure your home looks amazing (take that, Science Slime!).
Ready to Take on Selling During Back to School Season?
Feeling brave? So are we! Contact Ann Milton Realty to learn more about selling a home in the Triangle suburbs, to price your home, get it ready, and list it with ease… yes, even during back-to-school season—kids, complaining, chaos, and all.