If you’ve listed your home in the last few years, you already know the text. It arrives mid-dinner, mid-Target run, or mid-nap: a buyer wants to see the house… in TWENTY minutes….For a lot of home sellers, that message triggers full-blown panic. The truth is, once your home is on the market, staged and photographed, it rarely needs a deep clean before a showing. It needs a fast, focused reset. Especially if you have taken the pre listing steps to get it ready, a critical step I make sure every listing undergoes. Here’s what I walk my sellers through every time we get a last minute showing request.
The Seven Things to do Before a Showing That Actually Move the Needle
- Get out of the house. Buyers linger, open closets, and talk candidly when the seller isn’t standing in the kitchen. Take the dog, take the kids, and take a drive . This is one of the simplest ways to help a showing go well.
- Open every blind and curtain. Natural light is the most convincing and is the cheapest staging tool you have. A bright room photographs and feels larger than a shadowed one.
- Turn on every light, including the ones you never use. Layered light softens a space and signals that a home has been well cared for. Don’t let one dark hallway undercut the rest of the house.
- Close the toilet lids. It’s a small thing, but it’s one of the first things buyers notice, and a quick fix
- Clear the counters. Kitchens and bathrooms sell houses. A wiped-down counter with nothing but a soap dispenser reads as move-in ready; a sink full of dishes reads as work.
- Take out the trash. Smell is one of the most powerful and most overlooked factors in how a buyer feels about a home. A quick trip to the outside bin solves it.
- Tuck away pet bowls, beds, and litter boxes. Not every buyer is a pet person, and even those who are will focus on your pet instead of the house. Ten seconds of hiding evidence goes a long way.
Why It Works
None of this requires a deep clean or a trip to the store. It requires a plan you already know by heart, so that when the text comes in, you’re not scrambling, you’re executing. Sellers who keep this list on the fridge (or saved in their phone) consistently show better, feel less stressed, and field more serious offers, because the house is always ready to make its case
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