6 Tips to Selling Your House When You Have Kids

You have decided it’s time to sell your house, but you're a little worried because you have kids and they they have a lot of stuff! How are you going to keep the house looking good for showings?

Don’t fret because I'm going to give you six tips to selling your house with children. I'm Liza Wilson, trusted real estate advisor to my clients, and I specialize in helping families in the Ottawa area upsize their home. Here are my top six tips to selling your house when you have children:

1. Donate and Declutter! Get the kids involved to help you figure out what you can donate and what you can just get rid of because this will help your house start to look organized. You don’t want to move items that you aren’t using anymore so purge away!

2. Hire help! There are many ways you can hire help when it comes to moving and this is a vital step to saving yourself some hassle and ensuring things are done. For example, if your carpets are in need of a deep clean, hire someone to come in and do a carpet cleaning. Another idea is to hire a cleaner to come in weekly before you go to market. Your home will be looking more polished and attract buyers as a result. Finding a good moving company is an absolute must so ask for referrals. There are full service movers that can even do the packing for you if you want.

3. Create checklists for the kids. Use these as a reminder for the things that need to be done in their rooms each day to look “showing” ready. Give them some responsibility and they will excel and feel included in the family goal to sell the house.

4. Do a daily check. Leave time in your morning routine to do a daily check of the house because you could get last minute showing requests and your house has to look attractive to buyers.

5. Have a go-to place. You need to decide on a place that you and your family will spend time when there are showings, whether it be grandma's house or the park nearby, having a spot you know you can go to will ease the stress every time there's a showing set.

6. Choose a family reward that you can enjoy together once the house is sold. The whole family should have input on the reward chosen so that everyone feels motivated to help throughout the selling process. A mini road trip or a day at the waterpark can provide a little incentive to achieve the goal.

Now that you know my six tips for selling your house with children, watch for my next video on Moving Tips for Families!

If you're interested in getting a list of family friendly neighborhoods in Ottawa, reach out to me and I'd be happy to provide that to you.