The First Thing I Look At When I Walk Into a Home

Before I talk about staging or paint or landscaping, I want to talk about clean.

Not tidy. Not organized. Clean.

I am talking about baseboards. Windowsills. The grime that collects in corners and on surfaces that you stop noticing after a while because you live there every day. I am talking about bathrooms where the grout in the shower has gone dark, glass doors with years of buildup, fingerprints on the floorboards at kid height and whatever got splashed up toward the ceiling above the kitchen counter.

I walked through a property recently that is genuinely stunning. The views alone would stop you in your tracks. But this family has four kids under ten, and the house shows it. Every surface needs to be wiped down. Not because these people are not clean, they are living in their home, but because when a buyer walks in, they see it all at once, and it colors everything that follows.

Here is what I have learned after 20-plus years of walking through homes: a dirty house makes buyers nervous. Not just about cleanliness, about condition. They start asking themselves what else has been let go. A clean house, on the other hand, signals care. It tells a buyer that the people who lived here paid attention. That impression carries through the entire showing and it shows up in offers.

What "clean" actually means when you're getting your house ready to sell

Baseboards and trim. These collect dust and scuff marks and they are almost always overlooked. Get down there and scrub them.

Windowsills. People clean the glass and ignore the sills. Dirt in a windowsill looks like rot or mold to a buyer who does not know better, and it will raise questions you do not want raised.

Screens. If you have never taken your screens off and washed them, now is the time. It makes a bigger difference than you would expect.

Bathrooms. Every surface. Grout, glass doors, fixtures, mirrors. If the shower curtain is past its prime, replace it. Same for bathmats.

Kitchen surfaces. Not just the counters, the cabinet fronts, the range hood, the inside of the microwave. Buyers open things.

Basements. A cluttered, dirty basement makes buyers wonder what is being hidden. I will talk more about decluttering before you list in a separate post, but cleanliness down there matters just as much as anywhere else in the house.

Should you hire a professional cleaner before listing your home?

There is no shame in bringing in professional cleaners before your house goes on the market. In fact, I recommend it. They will get to the spots you have stopped seeing, inside the light fixtures, the top of the refrigerator, the tracks on sliding doors.

Do the windows yourself if you want, but make sure someone gets those windowsills.

A clean house is the foundation everything else gets built on. Paint looks better in a clean house. Staging looks better in a clean house. Photos look better in a clean house. It is the first thing I look at, and it is the first thing I want my sellers to address.

Curious about what your home might need before it goes on the market? I am happy to take a look. Call me at 802-846-8813 or email Nancy@AskNancyWarren.com.