Moving is never easy, especially when you have a house to sell as part of the process. Trying to sell a house can be a challenge or easy depending on the factors at play in your local housing market, but either way, the work involved is intense and time consuming. Preparing a home for an open house is especially annoying, but it can make the difference between a good sale, a low sale, and a fast or slow sale period. It helps if you properly prepare the open house, and the following tips will provide that assistance.

Clean and Open Inside…

First and foremost, an open house requires the house to be more, well, open. That means the clutter and personal bits and bobs need to be stored away so that people can enjoy the home itself. You may have a very nice novelty plate collection, but it’s probably blocking the paint job potential buyers want to examine to see if they need to add it to the list of stuff to fix if they commit to purchase.

Also, obviously, the home should be clean. It should look as clean and fresh as possible, because that helps show more of the house. It also lets people see the state of the home. For example, if the Amish kitchen furniture is clean, potential buyers will know the kitchen is in good shape and they don’t need to worry about future repairs or repainting, unless they want to of course.

As part of the cleaning and de-cluttering, you should also put away the personal touches and whatnot. It’s unfortunate, but people want to see the home, not your family photos. It needs to be packed up anyway at some point, and the better cleaned and cleared the home is, the more likely it will sell well and fast.

…And Outside

The outside needs to look good, too. A power washing, preferably a few days before the open house so it isn’t obvious you just cleaned, is a good idea. The lawn and garden should be cleaned up, too. Also, if you’ve been neglecting cleaning out the gutters, you should probably handle that. The outside of a home will be people’s first impression. If the outside looks ignored, it will raise doubts about the inside.

If you want to go the extra mile to make an inviting outside first impression, make sure your address numbers are vibrant and easy to read. Also consider updating the outdoor lighting if you have the time and funds.

Don’t Forget to Organize and Repair

Getting back to the inside of the home, you want to not only reduce clutter, but also organize everything that’s still in the house. You want the home to look as open and inviting as possible, so make sure everything is put away and organized as best you can while still living there. It’ll help with the move, too. Just like with the outside, if you’ve neglected any repair jobs on the inside, you should get them repaired before the open house. People coming to an open house aren’t generally looking for a fixer-upper.

Not only does fixing issues make the home look better, it also shows you’re a responsible homeowner. A well maintained looking home is one people will feel more confident about, especially if they don’t need to fix the issues themselves. People moving have to think about all the costs related to the move, obviously. You’re probably thinking what needs to be fixed in your new home, and people looking during the open house will do the same thing.

It Will Hurt

Besides the physical aspect of turning a home into a showcase for other people to appraise, there’s also the emotional impact. You need to be mentally and emotionally prepared for people to examine your home and pass judgment on where you lived, potentially where you raised pets and children. They might not like what they see, and that can feel like a personal statement again you. It’s not.

It won’t be fun packing away your life for the sake of strangers, either, but needs to be done for the house to sell. Besides, as mentioned before, everything needs to be packed up eventually anyway. Doing so before the open house provides a good chance to sort through feelings and thoughts so you don’t get overwhelmed during the open house itself. People looking through your home can cause enough emotions, so there’s no reason to add more and create further emotional pain.

Preparing for an open house is a lot of work. The better the house is prepared, though, the faster the home will be sold and for better value. You have enough to worry about when getting ready to move, so make sure that the open house goes as fast and well as you can. It can be hard packing up a home, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Having people snooping around doesn’t help, either. So the faster the home is sold, the better, for everyone.