I’m sharing Febreze in my life as part of a sponsored series for Socialstars™

Now that the secret of our relocation is out, it’s time to talk the big move. Moving with kids is an experience in itself, but we are so excited for this new adventure. I shared on Instagram last night about the whirlwind adventure that came along with this move. First, we were told we were moving to Salt Lake City, then two days later it was Los Angeles, and for about a week and a half it flip flopped every few days. I guess that’s what happens when the Regional Vice President’s are calling into Human Resources and fighting for your husband to come work for them! (And yes, that’s a total non humble brag on my husband, but he deserves it!)

Because this was such a fast decision, we had to put on our tunnel vision. All we could think about was how to sell our home, how to sell it fast, and what we could do to make it happen. After meeting with our amazing real estate agent, we came up with a game plan and put our nose to the grindstone. With the end goal in sight and some tips and tricks to make our home look more desirable to potential buyers, we got to work.

How we sold our home quickly, with multiple offers and for over asking.

Get a great real estate agent.

First things first, a great realtor is one of the best tools to help sell your home fast. Ours, Joan, came to our introductory meeting with an entire outline of her plan along with examples of other homes she has sold. She showed us what marketing materials she uses, why they’re effective, and brought great local information for comparable homes for sale.

Do your research on comparable homes for sale.

At the time of our sale, homes in the Portland area were selling within 14 days. This was huge for us as I was really nervous to be selling so close to the end of the year. We wanted to make sure we didn’t lose money (after all, we’ve only been in our home for 11 months as of closing), but didn’t want to be too greedy and turn off potential buyers.

Our realtor gave us a number she believed the home would sell for, and her reasons why. I’ll be honest, the number seemed huge and overreaching, so I talked with my husband and we decided to list for a happy medium. Higher than what we bought for, but lower than her suggested listing price. I chose a price that would get more views from potential buyers based on back-end information, and one that I knew would probably get more people to even just walk through the doors. We priced just under market value, and it ended up creating a sense of urgency for buyers!

Get your home ready for sale.

Okay, so this one was huge. Our home we sold was two floors and 2600 square feet, and we had less than a week to get it ready for an open house. I’m not going to lie to you, this quick of a turn around was not easy. It took a lot of working and purging when we could. And trying to keep the kids from making a mess was a constant battle. But with a few tips and tricks, we were able to quickly set up for a perfect open house showing.

Take down personal touches.

This was easily the hardest one for me to do. We literally just finished making our rooms feel more like us. There was a lot of time and effort put into making this house a home, but the fact of the matter is my taste doesn’t always appeal to everyone. When putting your house up for sale, you want to appeal to the most amount of people possible, and you want your home to feel more like a blank slate that buyers can easily make their own. That doesn’t mean that it has to be boring, but it does mean taking down personal touches. 

First things to go were all family photos. We ended up going a little further and taking down our gallery walls. Other personal mementos such as trophies, arts and crafts from the kids, knick knacks, etc all came down as well. 

Minimalize the clutter.

The quickest way to make the biggest impact when trying to sell your home quickly? Get rid of the excess. Think about when you’re looking at real estate listings. Those homes with too much furniture and stuff all over the place? Automatically turn me off. I don’t even want to go look at the house because it seems so small and cluttered! If potential buyers are looking for a home to create memories in, how are they going to envision their kids running around if there isn’t any room to do so?!

Armed with a ton of totes and a mind to declutter, we went through each room and got rid of all the non essentials. Instantly, the home feels bigger, more open, and more inviting. This includes counters! Take everything off the counters if possible – it makes a huge impact. Do NOT just stuff everything into closets. Trust me. When buyers are looking through your home and opening doors, chaos is the last thing they want to see. If it looks like your home is too cluttered and lacking adequate storage, that’s something that is going to stick with buyers.

Deep clean your home & make it smell good.

Living with three dudes and a huge dog comes with its own mess. There are fingerprints and dog hair everywhere. Plus, H is still getting the hang of potty training. So the bathrooms… well, they’re not always the most delightful smelling. When we sold our last home, someone mentioned that one of the rooms had a distinct dog smell to it. Yikes. Talk about embarrassing. I was not going to let that happen this time.

Armed with cleaning supplies and my Febreze ONE, we went through each room of the house and wiped, scrubbed, swept, vacuumed, mopped and fluffed. Make sure to especially get all finger prints off appliances and windows! Deep cleaning with kids is not the easiest, so we did a LOT after the kids went to sleep. Having such a quick turnaround for selling our home was a blessing and a curse. It meant we had no time to waste, but also meant less time that we had to constantly be wiping up after the boys. 

When getting a home ready for sale, I like to think about all five senses. I think we sometimes forget that we do use all of them when it comes to decision making, and a home is no different. When you enter a space – what’s one of the first things you notice? For me – its smell! With the dog smell reminder from our last house, I knew this must ring true for others as well.

BUT, I think there’s a fine line when it comes to making your home smell good for open houses and home showings. You don’t want to drown people in perfume and fragrance. All it does is make potential buyers think you’re trying to cover something up. One of the listings we went to, the entire basement had been heavily armed with those wax warmers. I could barely be down there for much time because it was overbearing and gave me a headache. After asking our realtor to look into it, it turns out there was a pretty serious mold issue. Umm, no thanks.

You don’t want to be deceptive when freshening up your home.

You want to make it smell clean, fresh, and inviting. That’s why I LOVE Febreze ONE. I’ve shared how my bamboo Febreze ONE helps me keep things fresh on the daily, so its no surprise its my favorite for using when getting the house ready to sell. The fragrance is light and unobtrusive, and it doesn’t smell like I’m trying to hide anything.

Because we are selling during a very wet time of year, I wanted something that would help combat musty smells that come along with all the wetness. Tis the season to spend almost all of our days inside, and I think that’s something to be cognizant of when selling your home. I want people to walk into the house and envision themselves creating memories in this space. And a light, fresh scent can invoke feelings of happiness and joy – exactly my hope for this next family that gets to live in this home. 

After the big deep clean, I went through each room and pumped the nozzle a few times to get a continuous spray. A little spritz on the areas where our dog likes to hang out the most was crucial for helping to eliminate (not just cover up) the dreaded dog small. 

As someone with a very sensitive nose, I tend to get headaches and start sneezing when sellers perfume their home with strong smells. But that’s not the case with Febreze ONE. Febreze ONE doesnt contain any heavy perfumes, aerosols or dyes and is an odor eliminating powerhouse. The scents are light, and aren’t overbearing at all. Febreze ONE doesnt just sit on the stink. Rather, it attacks the smell at the source. Which means it’s actually helping to clean the air as you spray!

Brighten up your home.

Bringing in more light to your home is one of the easiest ways to appeal to more buyers. My biggest tip? Switch out your lightbulbs! A true, white light can transform a space in a matter of minutes. And it’s cheap! Changing from yellow to white light will make your home feel bigger, brighter, more open, and cleaner. So all that hard work you did to deep clean and make your home smell great won’t go to waste!

Another easy way to brighten up your home? Make sure all window coverings are open! Our home is pretty close to the neighbors, so the two middle bedrooms don’t get the best light. It’s great for the kids getting to sleep, but not so great for getting lots of natural light in for an open house. However, by using white light bulbs and keeping the curtains open, the rooms feel bright and inviting.

A little insider tip when having an open house: play soft music! We streamed a soft jazz station throughout the house on a low volume, and got a lot of comments about it. People commented that it made them feel very relaxed while walking through the house, and gave the home a great vibe.

Don’t forget the outside.

After working so hard to get your home set up, don’t forget about the exterior of your home! I can’t tell you how many times we’ve walked through houses that have totally forgotten to clean up their yards / clean up their front porches. We live just as much outside the house as we do inside, so this is a huge selling (or non selling in this case) feature.

Our realtor told us that one thing people mentioned was how tidy our front and back patios were, and how well kept our front and back yard looked. Having the exterior well kept let people see that it was a low maintenance and easy to maintain property. If you have kids, you know that extra time is something parents don’t have a lot of. So anything you can do to help show families how easy it is to live in your home is beneficial!

Selling your home quickly doesn’t have to be expensive or time consuming.

Thanks to a great real estate agent that marketed our house wonderfully, and these tips and tricks, we were able to sell our home ridiculously fast. Remember these few things: remove personal touches, minimize the clutter, deep clean, attack odors with Febreze ONE, and don’t forget the outside! And good luck selling your home!