Getting the house ready to show is going to s&!k!

[elaineandmichaelsmommy]

I've been cleaning all day,clearing out clutter. I've filled 2 garbage bags and 3 boxes and the house looks like I haven't touched it. I haven't touched the closets,the upstairs sitting room,or the clutter in the office and the realtor comes for his first walk through TOMORROW!!! I'm 3 months pregnant,still exhausted and but thankfully not that nauseous since I stopped eating meat.

I loath to think of what he's going to say when he sees the place. Guess I'll just hold my breath and see. But yea gads!! When did we get all this JUNK!!

[elizabethkott]

Amen, sister. I'm right here in the land of please-buy-my-house-where-did-I-get-all-this-junk-stash-and-dash-so-they-can-show-the-house.
It truly, truly is pooptastic.
I've come to realize that the best course of action (for us, at least) was to purchase those HUGE blue tupperwear containers, throw just about everything in them, and neatly stack them in the basement or the garage. That got us through the initial realtor showing - the one where all the brokers in the neighborhood tramp through your house.
Now, we go through one a night, and cull from there.
I think the worst is constantly living in a "show ready" home.
With a toddler.
Sigh.
Sending you selling-home vibes as I type...

[LarsMal]

Ooh...me too, me too!

Total suckage! I was in my first trimester when we listed our last house and DS was 8 months old or so...THAT was loads of fun! Luckily it was a townhouse so we didn't have as much stuff, but did use those huge containers Liz mentioned. We put a bunch of DS's toys in them, along with all the extra junk from the spare bedroom closets. I was 14 weeks pg when we moved. Not much better, although DH's firm did hire us packers- that was NICE!!!

This time around I've got five bedrooms and 4 1/2 baths to keep clean and ready for showing...too bad I can't keep the house clean and ready for showing! We had a showing this evening at 6:00 (nice timing!). I swear I spent the whole day picking stuff up and vacuuming and it still could have used some dusting. At first I was upset that we're going to be moving to a smaller house, but now I can't wait!

Good luck! And just let the realtor know it's still a work in progress! Our realtor came over for the initial meeting during the kids dinner- umm...rice was not a good choice that night! The house was still pretty much a cluttered mess, but we just kept saying- this will be gone, and that will be gone. We got a POD. Big help. We just stashed a bunch of baby crap in it and off it went.

[Momof3Labs]

PODs. We stuffed one POD full of crap when we were getting ready to show our house (3 years ago) and then ended up getting a second POD and stuffing it just as full. It was humbling how much stuff we got in there - and how little I cared to see it again after living without it for a couple of months.

It's just so much easier to keep everything clean if there is less to mess up in the first place. And it is startling how GOOD the house looks when the closets are half empty, the toy shelves are half bare, there is less furniture in the rooms, etc.

We had a huge garage sale right before listing, too, and got rid of a ton of stuff (and made almost $3000 - but that included some big ticket items like a riding lawnmower). But we knew that we were going to list the house and had a little time to prepare before showings started.

[ilfaith]

Ugh. I know I am dreading getting our house ready to sell. I've already filled several of those big Rubbermaid containers and have barely made a dent. And. being in Florida, we have no basement, and those big containers don't fit through the little trapdoor to our attic. So I'm certain a POD (or two, or more) will be a must. Alas a yard sale is out of the question as our HOA doesn't allow them. There is an annual community tag sale which we manage to miss year after year (I believe it was held on Rosh Hashana last year).

But my real challenge will be keeping the place clean with 4- and 2-year oold boys running around.

Sometimes I thik it would be easiest to rent a separate apartment for the boys and I while the house is on the market.

[kellij]

We moved when my daughter was 3 weeks old and my son was 17months. I had also had a c/s. This meant my son was between 11 and 16 months when we had to show the house. It was a nightmare. I have no idea what we were thinking, clearly it was some hormone induced craziness on my part. My ds is a very active child and I was always throwing stuff into bins as quickly as possible and trying to get us and FOUR dogs out of the house! It never failed though, ds would poop on cue. That horrible TOXIC baby poop stench that doesn't leave the house for hours and hours. I'm sure that was a huge selling point!