By Colleen Rosica
PERSONAL MOVING CONSULTANT
The author of this column, Colleen Rosica is the personal moving consultant at Ann’s Choice. A Bucks County resident, she has worked as a licensed Realtor for the past ten years and is an accredited homestaging specialist.
As a personal moving consultant, she meets with people moving to Ann’s Choice and conducts a room-by-room assessment of their houses. She guides her clients through the moving process and offers easy tips they can use to get the most out of the home sale and help sell the property quickly.
So you’re ready to take the plunge and move. Where do you begin? First and foremost, you need to prepare your house for the move. And that starts with a deep, formal house cleaning!
Potential owners don’t want to buy someone else’s dirt! They want a clean house. It’s a tall task to do the job right, so you may want to enlist the help of some friends or family members. Many hands make light work. It’s a great way for grandchildren to earn some extra spending cash too.
If you don’t feel up to it, you can also look for a cleaning service in the phone book. But be prepared to pay upwards of $100 depending on the size of your house and possibly extra “first time cleaning” fees.
If you’re doing it yourself, start from the top floor of your house and work slowly and methodically down to the basement. Dust, mop, scrub the floors, and vacuum all carpets. Take your time. This isn’t a quick once-over. If you have particularly troublesome spots on carpets consider renting a rug shampooer from the grocery store.
Be sure to focus on items and areas you may not clean on a regular basis—wipe down the walls, doors, light switches, and cabinets. There are a number of great multisurface cleaners on the market that can be used to clean wood, glass, painted walls, and metals. Pay particularly close attention to high-traffic areas. A little elbow grease will go a long way!