Tips for listing/selling with young kids at home???

ok... we live in NJ. we found our DREAM house (yay!!!) BUT now we have to sell our house! we have a 5 year old son who is BUSY BUSY--- any tips for keeping up with cleaning for showings, doing little renovation projects, then packing all with an active little one in tow??
our situation makes it a little tougher, too. we have NO family anywhere nearby to send him to for an hour or so once in awhile. i'm also a SAHM mom (he's not in school yet) so we can't leave him in daycare while we take personal days off of work to get some stuff done. he goes to preschool about 2 hours a day, but thats it. and most of our friends work full time, so they have their own stuff going on to help out with him.
i'm bracing myself because i know its going to be tough!!! i know it can be done, though-- any tips from anybody in a similar situation? thanks!!

Re: Tips for listing/selling with young kids at home???

I was in an identical position as you are facing, Nj, far from family, young kids, etc. I actually got a storage unit and moved a lot of toys and books out of the house to make it look cleaner. As for toys we had the rule one out and then return it to the shelf before taking new stuff out. I also requested 24 hour notice before showings. There was one agent who just came into my house without calling before hand. I called his broker and told them he was not permitted near my house and if he came back I would call the cops on him. He was yelling at me for being home in my own house. It was really bad.

Re: Tips for listing/selling with young kids at home???

We packed up as much of his stuff as we could get away with. I think it made a big difference because the house didn't look so cluttered.
Once we were in contract, I just packed little by little. I labeled all the boxes really well which helped when we got to the new house. We also packed a few suitcases with stuff we knew we would need right away at the new house- a few changes of clothes for DC, a few toys, sheets for his bed etc. We were able to get the basics of his room done as soon as we moved in which helped.

Tips for listing/selling with young kids at home???

We just went through the same thing. Found our dream home and decided it was time to sell our apartment. We put the majority of stuff in a storage unit to declutter and the only big toys I kept out were things that DD used on a daily basis (like her kitchen). I got a few toy bins so I could just throw things in there and put off to the side. I would then literally hide everything in closets and cabinets, so our home looked as decluttered as possible.

Before open houses I would have my DH take DD out for an hour or two so I could clean everything up and declutter. We told our realtor up front that we couldn't do last minute appointments and we needed 24 hours notice.

On days that DD was home with me and we needed to show the apartment there was a lot of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse watching so I could clean and then get out :)

Tips for listing/selling with young kids at home???

Same thing here. We packed up all the clutter. We kept only the toys and a few books/dolls she really loved. Everything was stored in garage. It was hard keeping the house spotless, beds made, vacuum marks on rugs, dishes out of sink. We did chase her around a lot and picked u after her. We had 40 showings, and thankfully it sold in 6 weeks, but it was not easy! It was difficult on weekends when we were home, but keep on top of keeping the house clean so there's not much to do. We would sometimes get only an hour or 2 notice of a showing.

Message edited 6/5/2016 7:53:05 AM.

Re: Tips for listing/selling with young kids at home???

I was in a similar boat - needed to sell our house and have two small children. We outgrew the space. My LR looked like Frozen and My Little Ponies had a war.

DH ultimately took DD1 with him to a friend's house for an overnight, and I ran around like a crazy woman with my younger daughter, cleaning, organizing, packing, and throwing a lot of sh!t out. We had a few showings at night and took the kids out to dinner. We told realtor that unless buyers had a bank check in hand, there were no showings after 7. We cleaned up each night before they went to bed. Lucky for us, the house sold quickly. Yours will too! Good luck!

Message edited 6/5/2016 8:05:56 PM.