Prepare Your House to Sell: 90-Day Pre-Spring Plan

thinking about selling your home this spring
well then listen up
because you don’t want to wait until March
to get started because by then
you’re already behind schedule
to get your house ready to sell
so in the next 90 days
there are a few key steps that you can take right now
even before the holidays
that’ll get you on the right path to success
and get your house ready for sale
so I’m gonna show you some quick repairs
some staging tricks
couple things to get started right now in December
and then January February
so that when it comes to March
you’re not scrambling around trying to get things done
because you realize oh
my gosh why didn’t I start this earlier
so let’s dive into this episode
hey there home sellers
welcome back my name is Kasha
and today we are talking about a 90 day
pre spring holiday prep plan
I know that’s a lot of words
I know
but we’re preparing you now and getting started now
um because
now is a great time to get your house ready to sell
because
if you are thinking about doing this in the spring
there’s some things that you can do now
before the holidays before all everybody else shows up
and that’ll actually help you get your house ready
for the holidays then also for the spring sale
okay so that’s why I wanna get you started now
I’m a planner that’s who I am
I’m the type that likes to have a checklist
and knock things out and get things done
and
I’m not gonna bombard you with a whole lot each month
but I do wanna get you just thinking in that spot
with that direction right
you probably have a whole plan of hey
this is what we’re doing for Christmas
but we’ve got a couple weeks until then
so there’s a lot of things that you can do
even before then
that’s not gonna take a whole lot of time
but still needs to get done
and still will help you sell your house later
okay
let’s dive into what to do in December
okay so
because you I know
you probably already put up your holiday decor
at this point maybe you have
maybe you’ve started maybe you’ve done it like
weeks ago like
right before right after Thanksgiving right
and so now you’re probably thinking
well I have all this stuff up okay
so now is the time to do a deep clean on the kitchen
like so
I’m talking about like
the stove the oven
the fridge because
if you’re gonna be having guests over in your home
you’ll probably wanna clean all that stuff up
and make it all sparkly clean anyway
because you’re gonna be cooking for the holidays right
so I know
home cleaners may be hard to come by
at this time of year
because they’re probably booked with
getting holiday cleaning done anyway
if you can find someone great
if not now’s the time to take out those
you know cleaners and rubber gloves and
and sponges and everything and start doing it yourself
right there’s um
lots of things on Pinterest that you can find on how to
you know clean your oven
if you have the setting on your oven
I don’t but if you have that clean yourself oven button
you know what I mean that magic button right
where it takes care of all that stuff that’s in there
that’s kind of caked on now’s the time to do that
do that before you go to bed
so that it’s doing it while you’re sleeping um
and then or do it while
you know when you’re
during the day in the morning
when you’re gonna be home anyway
you know so that way
you can kind of keep an eye on how things are going
but that button is just magic on the oven
for those of you who don’t like me
we’re gonna have to go through
and start scrubbing that oven now
there’s a lot of things like I said
on Pinterest that you can find
um some elbow grease
whether it’s you know
an oven cleaning product right
or maybe you don’t want those harsh chemicals in there
so like the baking soda lemon thing and water
kind of make a paste let it sit there
you know and then kind of scrub it
it’s amazing those that
at least that will do like
one time and then you’ll see the difference
especially on the inside on that glass
you know that window that you have there
looking into the oven cleaning that out is just wow
makes such a difference even if you do it now once now
before the holidays
and then you do it later after the holidays
at least you’ve gotten the first coat of grime off
okay same thing with the stove
you know the fridge
go through that fridge and figure out well
the vegetable drawer or the fruit drawer that you use
or the cheese drawer whatever those drawers
just pull out pull out things that are kind of going Ew
this is not looking as great as anyway
pull out the drawer and just wash it out
hose it out take it to the sink
clean it out disinfect it
now’s the time to get that ready
so that when you do have your holiday that
you know food that you’re prepping
it’s all nice and neat and clean right
yes you probably will have to do it later
but at least it’s now not as bad again
you’ve gotten the initial
you know cleaning done okay
same thing with um
so I’ve done the stove the oven
the microwave the microwave
I know I know
and if you have kids who use that all the time
or a spouse and it just needs
you know just a Lysol wipes whatever
the one that I found really works best um
is when you put a bowl of water with um
lemons in there right
um and that helps just to kind of disinfect it
makes it smell nice too
kind of loosens up the grime in there
um again
Pinterest is my friend
when it comes to finding those cleaning hacks okay
unless you have a cleaning person
and they do that for you great
but if you’re doing this on your own
you know
while you’re waiting for that oven to clean itself
you go clean the microwave okay
a couple things all at once right
I know you’re probably thinking
oh gosh
okay so that’s the kitchen
all right deep clean the kitchen
that’s a great place to start right
another thing that you can do in December
are just cleaning dusting the the
the baseboards right
so the baseboards along the floor right
dusting them sometimes especially if they’re white
you know what I mean yeah
you’ve seen them
you probably just need to get on your hands and knees
and just get down there and clean the dust board
dust baseboards dust them
I just take a Lysol wipe actually
what I normally do is I use um
like those dryer sheets
because they kind of cling better to the dirt
and just clean those off
and it makes it look so much better
right so you’re going through room by room
follow along um
maybe the kids can help if you have the kids at home
that can help you do that kind of stuff right
cause they’re like yeah
they’re they’re better at getting down lower
us older people getting down on our knees to do that
yeah maybe not so easy anymore
yeah maybe the kids can do that for you
or you know
maybe you have a long handled brush that can
you know
is your standing up to clean those and then dust on top
right so
those are just some ideas for December
to get you started
if you need more home staging tips
I do have a free guide that I offer
where I talk about things that you can work on
10 things that you can do
to get started on staging your house
that’s a totally free guide
you can take a look
I’ll leave the link in the show notes
moving on to January and February
so the holidays are over you’ve
you know had a great time with family and friends
maybe one last time in the house right
that you can celebrate so
now’s the time to take advantage of those
Christmas sales right
at the after Christmas sales
where if you have maybe
some new bedding that you need to get
or towels right
so maybe you downloaded my checklist and you said
oh yeah
Kasha says you know
we need to look at this you’re like um
probably the bedding it probably needs to be updated
and and now’s the time
those post Christmas sales
that you could probably get some really good deals on
those types of things
that will help freshen up your house updated
help you sell it and oh
by the way
you take it to your next house that you’re moving to
right so you get rid of the old bedding
donate that whatever you need to do
maybe it’s just not looking its best right
maybe just needs to be tossed right
the towels maybe they’re ratty
if they’re older towels
donate them to an animal shelter
I’ve done that
I’ve had towels that were stains that were just
maybe ripped or just you know
just does it was bleached out right
I’ve had that my
my come beautiful color towels are nice blue color
but then they’ve got this bleach stain on it
you don’t want to put that out
when you’re selling your house right
so what I do is I take those perfectly useful towels
and donate them to the animal shelter
because they will use them for the dogs and cats
that they need to use for
when they’re washing them
you know use them
you know kind of make it a little more comfy for them
I bring towels I think
I don’t know every couple of years or so
because they just get so used and stained and ratty
and they’re like oh
we’ll take them we’ll take them off your hands
so there’s an idea if you do have lots of towels
that just need another home
still good use but need another home okay
um this is also the time
that you need to start removing all that holiday decor
take that down if you haven’t already
um if you’re watching this after the holidays
that’s perfectly fine but in January
now is the time to start putting away the holiday decor
but then also
decide what it is that you’re taking with you
to your next house if you’re downsizing
and you don’t need all this holiday decor
now’s the time to start you know
thinking about okay
well I’m not gonna take all this
I’m gonna only take like
a couple of bins not all this outside stuff
because I know I’m gonna be living in an apartment
or a condo a much smaller home
whatever it is put those things aside
and decide which ones you’re gonna take with you
and the rest you’re gonna either donate or sell
or do something with okay
but it does not come in with you
it needs to leave the house okay
so which
decide which holiday decor you’re gonna keep and take
so that’s in January okay
also in January and the February time frame
maybe you need to do some holiday or paint touch UPS
right maybe the walls in the hallway need some help
maybe the baseboards need some touch UPS
if they haven’t been painted in a while
I know we had that in our last house um
where the white was it was after scrubbing them with Mr
Clean you know
those sponges those are my favorite too
um maybe they just need to be painted white again
I had that I had to do that
and it was easy to do that
once I got the white paint that I needed
I had the paint brushes ready to go
I had the little tray that it needs to be poured in
or I just dipped it in whichever one
cause I got a little small can
anything you can do to prep now for those touch UPS
is great I totally recommend that
okay
go do that do the paint touch UPS
maybe it’s a wall color that you
you know maybe you need to change right
maybe it’s not a neutral wall color
now’s the time to get on the painter’s schedule
if you’re not gonna be painting it
then get the painter to come out and do that
don’t wait until March to get on their schedule
they’re gonna be slow about this time frame anyway too
so this will help you out and the painter
okay so paint touch UPS
if you can do it
or have someone out come out and come do it
not just paint but
maybe you have some small home repairs
that need to be done maybe you notice the dishwashers
not its great self right
maybe you’ve been thinking about oh
I probably need to change that up
right again
the post Christmas sales
there may be some appliances that may be on sale also
right so think about that too
if you’re thinking oh
I really need to get that taken care of
I know it’s probably gonna help the house
maybe the fruit you know the
the dishwasher’s going on 10 years old
it’s probably need to be updated
changed out okay
yeah I know
even though we’ve had um
a dishwasher
appliance guy come out and come take a look
he had clean the jets before
maybe that’s all that’s needed to be done
but sometimes it’s just really hmm
if it’s about 10 years old
it probably needs to be replaced
I know we had a refrigerator that died on us
literally
two days before we were gonna go on vacation
in early December and I’m not trying to jinx anybody
but it happens it really does
we were going on vacation
a big family trip um
just before the holidays
and it literally died two days before we left
we were scrambling because we’re like everything’s
everything’s gonna defrost and die while we’re gone
for two weeks or 10 days
whatever it was right
we managed to get an appliance guy to come out
and tell us there is nothing I can do to fix this
you’re gonna have to buy a new fridge
crap right
so we bought a deep freeze freezer
and I just put one in the garage
and stuck everything that was in the freezer in there
and anything I wanted to save for the holidays
cause I knew I was gonna have like a Turkey or a ham
I think it was a ham
I stuck that ham in the freezer in there
so that when we came back from Christmas
or from the trip that I would have something
you know what I mean we were scrambling
it was it was
and then when we came back
we had to come back and go find a fridge
which luckily was during the Christmas sale of things
still wasn’t fun but you know what I mean
that’s a major thing but other small repairs
like maybe there’s a screen that’s ripped
maybe that’s a door that’s not working or sticking
or an outlet that’s not working
get the electrician to come out in the January
February time frame
to get those types of things taken care of
maybe you notice something else that’s not working
during the holidays
yeah or you have guests come over
and they find something
that’s just not working anymore
or broken or whatever
now is the time in January February
to get those contractors lined up
to come to your house get the electrician to come out
a plumber maybe
to get those types of things fixed
okay
so let me go through a couple
of milestones that you can probably check off
before you list your house
okay so
here are just a couple of things
that you can use to think about
that’ll get you going again
if you have my free um
home staging guide that’ll get you started as well
but you definitely want to talk
think about decluttering your home
okay yes
if you have guests over
that’ll help speed things up a little bit
if you don’t have guests coming over
and you’re like oh
well I can take care of that later
well one big milestone is decluttering
if you do have things
that don’t belong in the living room
for example like
maybe you’ve had this workout gear in there
or a treadmill or something
yeah that doesn’t belong in the living room
it really needs to go in a different room
whether it’s a bonus room
maybe you throw it in the garage or something like that
but decluttering is a big deal
you can get started on that also
okay that’s a big milestone
um curb appeal
I know during the holidays
the curb appeal may not look its best
maybe you have snow to deal with where
where you live or maybe it doesn’t snow very much
but there’s you know
the flower beds need some attention
the springtime is a great time to start looking at that
looking at dead you know
bushes or trees if you’re looking and seeing going yeah
that one hadn’t flowered
it’s not gonna flower it’s not gonna live
pull it out early get it taken care of
you know those kinds of things
so take a look at your curb appeal okay
those are that’s another milestone to take a look at
when you’re selling your house
and getting it ready for spring
uh make sure you’ve got
you know you’ve staged your house
that everything is you know
put in its place where it needs to go
you know maybe you don’t know where that’s going
I have a great option for you
I do have a new
online home staging basics course that I just started
that you can take advantage of
and I go room by room in this online course
and this is a beginner friendly um
of course and it’s online
so there’s no calls to join
there’s everything at your own pace you can watch
there’s 13 videos you can watch them
binge watch them all at once
which I don’t recommend but definitely
you know first couple or two
you probably watch back to back
but then after that
I would recommend going through the living room
where I talk about how to stage a living room
room by room I go through furniture layouts
I go through colors I go through accessories
what you should stay keep
what you should take out
all that kind of stuff is in each and every
every single room I have the living room kitchen
dining room primary bedroom
bonus rooms um bathrooms
kids bedrooms uh
laundry room curb appeal
all that kind of stuff in there
go check it out I’ll leave the link in the show notes
and because you are listening to my podcast
I do have a link for you to get $10 off this course
that you can take advantage of right now
and get started
on getting your house ready for the spring
so that’s my home staging basics course
that you can take advantage right now
if you take you know
a link that’s 10 bucks off your course so
we’ve talked a lot about
getting your house ready to sell
so that you’re not waiting till the very end in March
when you get your realtor to come in and go okay
the realtor says wow
everything’s ready to go let’s list it
and you’re like yes
let’s go okay
so now is the time in December
I talked about a few things you can do right now
things in January and February
that you can take care of
and that’ll get you ready for the spring market
so I hope you are getting ready
revved up ready to go
I know I am to get your house ready to sell
I hope you guys have a fantastic week
if you love this video please like comment
there’s anything else that you see that you’re like
oh I worked
I did this and it was a lifesaver
put that in the comments too okay
or maybe you found a cleaning hack for an oven
or a stove or something
put that in the comments too
I’d love to know alright
have a great week we’ll talk to you later bye