First impressions are lasting impressions. You will want to make sure the buyers looking at your home are left with the best possible impression. Your Royal LePage Real Estate Professional can help you achieve that goal.

Exterior

• House in good repair
• House number easy to read
• Eaves troughs, down spouts in good repair
• Garage/car port clean and tidy
• Litter picked up
• Cracked or broken window panes replaced
• Lawns and hedges cut and trimmed, garden weeded and edged
• Walks shoveled and salted
• Boot tray inside front door
• Doorbell and door hardware in good repair
• Porch and foyer clean and tidy
   

Interior

• Chipped plaster and paint touched-up and replaced
• Doors and cupboards properly closed
• Leaky taps and toilets repaired
• Burned out light bulbs replaced
• Squeaky doors oiled
• Mirrors, fixtures, and taps cleaned and polished
• Seals around tubs and basins in good repair
• Floors cleaned, garbage containers empty
• Inside of closets and cupboards neat and tidy
• Appliances cleaned
• Countertops neat and polished
• All lights turned on
• Air conditioner turned on in warm weather
• Fresh air in house
• Fireplace lit in cooler weather
• Halls and stairs cleaned
• Drapes opened during daylight
• Carpets freshly vacuumed
• Fresh flowers in various rooms
• Jewelry and valuables locked safely away or taken with you
• Valuable property, such as objects of art, vases and figurines out of reach, out of sight, or locked away
• Pets absent, where possible, or contained during the showing, and litter boxes clean

Kids Perspective

• Invest in a couple of large totes (Rubbermaid), it makes toy clean up very easy, and with a lid - toys are packed but still accessible to the kids
• Have the kids keep their rooms clean with a sticker reward system
• Unload!!  Now is the perfect time to find out what clothes no longer fit the children and donate them to a Women's shelter.  Don't forget to go through the toys as well
• Never make "a showing" something the kids should fear.  Kids respond well to games & music.  So play a game to get them to clean up, or dance while cleaning up
• If the showings are during the day time, tell the kids once they have cleaned-up they can play outside (weather permitting)
• Above all else, stay calm.  Kids tend not to co-operate when they sense your stress