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I never liked to clean toliets so we hire a cleaning woman to come in every few weeks. I was always impressed with how clean the house looked like when she left. So The stager and real estate agent came by today to have one more work through of our house before it goes offically up to sale later this week. Both report the house is too dirty and we should fire our cleaning lady.
Is it a gimic to get us to hire their cleaning crew or is the standard now days to clean up the house much higher than we ever expected?
Was your real estate agent happy with your homes maintenance in advance of it going on sale?
How did you keep it spotless during the time it was on sale?
The stager and real estate agent...
Both report the house is too dirty and we should fire our cleaning lady.
They're probably right.
Have you had a walk through any of the OTHER houses for sale near you?
You should do that anyway... but be sure to inspect for what clean means especially.
Judge for yourself. Don't bother with what the agent says. At closing, your house must be in as good or better condition than when it was seen by the buyer at offer time. So you don't want it perfect now. You will have to do more cleaning near closing time. The agent wanted me to remove some of the furniture (too busy, too cluttered). Just ignore that stuff.
Judge for yourself. Don't bother with what the agent says. At closing, your house must be in as good or better condition than when it was seen by the buyer at offer time. So you don't want it perfect now. You will have to do more cleaning near closing time. The agent wanted me to remove some of the furniture (too busy, too cluttered). Just ignore that stuff.
Come on Jackdon... you're brighter than this. Not having the house in Tip Top shape could cost her time in selling and possibly thousands of $$.
OP it does need to be in great condition and show ready. Just get someone to help define what needs to be done.
or is the standard now days to clean up the house much higher than we ever expected?
The standard is to have it really, really clean. As in, if you're not sure you've met the standard for "clean", you probably haven't met it.
I know it's easy to lose perspective when you've been somewhere a long time. Our realtor told us that during a showing, a person said our house smelled. I was upset and offended. Guess what? It did smell. I had to let go of my pride (and my sense of "normal", get out of the house for many hours, come back and pretend it wasn't my house. It smelled of dog and cat. I have a dog and a cat. I thought I was cleaning well. I wasn't. Even though everything looked spotless, it didn't SMELL spotless. I had to be honest with myself and fix the problem (without getting rid of the pets).
Having said that, if they're just saying "it's too dirty" or are pushing some of their own services or their affiliates, then yes, I would be suspicious. They should be able to point out exactly where they see dirt, mess or clutter. It's not hard to point to mess that you see. So I'm not sure why there wasn't better communication.
Want to show us some pictures? We'll tell you the truth : )-
Judge for yourself. Don't bother with what the agent says. At closing, your house must be in as good or better condition than when it was seen by the buyer at offer time. So you don't want it perfect now. You will have to do more cleaning near closing time. The agent wanted me to remove some of the furniture (too busy, too cluttered). Just ignore that stuff.
The agent and the stager are hired to provide their professional advice on what is going to help get your home sold.
They are telling you what you need to hear in order to get your home sold in a timely manner for top dollar. So I would certainly listen to what they are saying, and do as others have advised, and that is to have them point out exactly what they're talking about.
I'm actually surprised if they did not point out what is dirty. In the Phoenix area a lot of the dirt that cleaners will miss is in the window sills and the sliding door tracks. We get a lot of blowing dirt during the monsoon season and this dirt will accumulate in the tracks.
Another place that cleaners may ignore are ceiling fan blades and light fixtures. There may be some areas common in your area that the professionals will see, and people looking to buy your home will see, but since you're living in the home every day you are accustomed to it and don't see it.
You are doing the right thing by hiring a stager, and I don't think for a minute that either the Realtor or the stager are lying to you in an attempt to get you to hire cleaners they know. If you like your cleaner you don't have to fire them, just get the back and issue new cleaning instructions. It could be that they are doing the work exactly as was agreed on, and that extra work may be needed and they would just adjust the price accordingly.
As to staging, there are so many sellers who just don't realize the positive impact that removing some furniture and uncluttering will have on buyers.
When buyers view a home they need to be able to picture their "stuff" in the home. If a sellers home is too cluttered, and has too much furniture it will look too small, and that will lose some potential buyers.
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