We actually did it backwards though – we bought a new house first then put our old house on the market. I live in Arizona and housing prices were dropping so we had to wait about two and a half months and dropped about 25,000 off the price but we were finally in the new house. We went from 1800 sq feet to 3100 square feet. The first house would have been fine with us and the twins but then with another baby we were so cramped.

To start, we spent one month getting the house ready to sell. This included painting, small repairs, packing up all clutter and storing (in our garage), and strategically staging every room to maximize appeal (thank you HGTV). Then once that was done, we had it professionally cleaned and put it on the market. The first weekend, we went out of town so that it was totally available to all agents and the first open house. The next two weeks we had a handfull of agent showings and a couple more open houses. Unfortunately our agent has turned out to be a huge loser and in the beginning failed to indicate that agents needed to schedule appts to show the house through me with advance notice – they were just showing up and letting themselves into my house!!! The nerve! We’ve corrected that problem and now the showings have slowed down a bit…but I digress. Essentially we packed up everything that wasn’t absolutely necessary to live with so that there is minimal clutter and it is very easy to run around and pick up before a showing – or in your case every evening before you go to bed and morning before you leave for work. Every time I leave the house, it has to be ready to show so I have a routine I follow to make sure I’ve picked everything up, turned on all the lights and left it in museum condition. We have a list of about 15 steps I follow. This is definitely the hardest part. We are also extra careful now about picking up as we go, rather than letting things pile up. On Sunday mornings (Open House day), I clean the bathrooms, kitchen, floors, vacuum, etc. That usually keeps things good for the week.

Again, it’s hard, but doable. I have a major love / hate relationship with the jumparoo right now. The girls love it, but I hate having to hide it every time we leave the house. We pile all the kids stuff in their room. Our realtor said that was fine because people understand you have kids and containing it to one room is less impact overall.

The other advice I have is unless you majorly need every $ for your next house – price it to move! We’ve been on the market 6 weeks now and I was really hoping we’dhave sold sooner (we’re in Washington, DC). It’s a tough market right now, buyers are picky and in no hurry. The thought that this could go on for months is disheartening, but we’re not able to be very flexible on price so it could take awhile. Also, ask around and get a good realtor who you trust. The stress of our realtor is also making this situation much worse.

Goooood luck! I’d be happy to share any other advice, you can email me at mariahmckechnie@gmail.com.

at least you will have a clean house once a week, even if you aren’t there to enjoy it.