So, as it turns out, being a home seller is hard. Like really, really challenging. Who knew?

You'd think for ol' real estate expert Leah Courage, whose team has sold over 350 homes in recent years, it would be easy as pie, right? Oh nay-nay. Going through the process of listing our house for sale has been a huge reminder of what our clients go through - and what an up-and-down emotional rollercoaster full of highs and lows the selling process is.

To start, there is so...darned...much to consider when putting a home on the market. From pricing the home properly to the exterior presentation (yard, decks, patio, driveway, etc.), to the interior (packing, storing, staging, depersonalizing, decluttering, deep cleaning, etc.), to timing the market (should we list in April? May? What if we wait until Autumn when there's less inventory? What if we burnt the house down and collected the insurance money? Etc.), it's a wonder that more sellers don't admit themselves to in-patient treatment halfway through the process. While I'm totally adept at helping my clients sell their homes, I am, admittedly, my own worst client. I've had countless sleepless nights wringing my hands, stressing about small things, and obsessing over every imaginable element. I'm convinced that I'm 936% closer to a heart attack while selling my own home than when I'm not selling my own home.

When our house initially came up on the market, we, like every other seller in history, had the inevitable surge of texts, calls, and emails from anyone and everyone asking the age-old question: why are you selling? The question-and-response dance is always an extremely awkward interaction - especially when you don't need to sell and are staying in the area. I can't begin to tell you how many times over the last two weeks I've been asked, "BUT WHY? WHY WOULD YOU LEAVE SUCH A BEAUTIFUL HOME?" While I know the inquiry typically comes from a place of innocence and curiosity, truthfully, it's no one's business as to why you're selling, yet everyone makes it their top priority to know why (or at least to have an opinion on) why your home is on the market. That bit of conversation is typically followed by "Your listing photos look awesome! Great job! It will definitely sell fast!" "Thank you! Send the listing to everyone you know!" I chirp back, followed by an awkward laugh at the end of an already awkward response.

Then come the showing requests and the showings. Now, showings have been excellent opportunities for my OCD to rear its ugly (yet perfectly groomed) head and run rampant. I'm talking about getting our house to operating-room-quality cleanliness, the kind of manic cleaning where I'm picking up microscopic flecks of dirt from corners of rooms that normally never get a second look ("Oh my GOSH, there's dirt EVERYWHERE, they're going to think we live in a PIGSTIE!" I say. "Babe, you're seeing things again," says Jon). Necessary, you ask? Probably not to this extent. But, the saying 'You never have a second chance to make a first impression' absolutely rings true in this case. The goal is for the overall awesomeness of our house to sucker punch potential buyers in the face the moment they step foot in our entryway. And I'm not only talking about cleanliness here: there's also smell, sound, temperature, light, and space. Let's dive into each of these for a moment.

Temperature: You want to set the thermostat to warm, but not hot (70-72 degrees is right on the money). Simple enough.

Sound: I am not a fan of dead silent homes, truth be told. I'm a musician and am ultra sensitive to sound, so I like having a little bit of pleasant music playing in the background, like bossa nova or light jazz. Light music helps break up the silence and brings warmth, coziness and friendliness to a space.

Scent: This element is hugely important, as our sense of smell and emotions and memories are intricately entwined. If a visitor steps in a beautiful home yet smells dog, feet (this is why I hate old carpet with a passion), or any other unsavory aroma, it can have a conscious or unconscious negative impact on their opinion of the house and its overall condition ("Oh man, the house was beautiful, but it smelled awful - what else are the sellers hiding? They must not be very clean."). I've had clients step foot into stunning homes only to turn on their heels immediately upon entering and say, "NO WAY. NADA. Smells like cat urine/dogs/feet/weed/patchouli." So, needless to say - smell is important. For showings, I've been lighting the one ridiculously overpriced bougie candle that I own 30 minutes prior to leaving the house for showings.

Light: Very few people want to live in a cave - so why would you present your home as one? I recently toured a home with a client that had all curtains drawn - and the blinds were even closed behind the curtains. Bad idea. I thought I was about to get rushed by vampires. Generally speaking, it's important to present your home to potential buyers with as much light and airiness as possible. So, as much as I would like to showcase our lovely Hunter Douglas roller shades or our two-way blackout blinds in the primary bedroom, they're all the way up, allowing 100% of the possible natural light to fill the rooms. Side note: this is a general practice but isn't always gospel. For example: if you have a theater room or a room with otherwise intricate and expensive lighting to showcase, then adjust the natural light as necessary. But for Pete's sake, don't draw curtains or put shades down. We're trying to get a house sold, not attract a cloud of bats.

Space: This comes back to staging and decluttering, but this is the concept of less is more, and that whatever pieces are in your home should compliment your home and not distract from it. The goal of staging is to showcase the home's best features so that it appeals to buyers. If your house is crammed with items, even if those items are high-end and beautiful, they will distract buyers from looking at the home itself, which is the opposite of what we want. With staging, you want to create an elegant yet welcoming atmosphere, to maximize space, to depersonalize as much as possible, and to enhance visual appeal. We downsized our living room and dining room, our countertops, our offices, our bedrooms, the bonus room downstairs, the storage room/gym...everything. Believe me when I say that it all makes a difference. You want buyers to see themselves in your home, not you in your home. It's not personal, even thought removing family photos feels deeply personal.

When showings occur, the prep process is intense. The following are my general recommendations for a well presented home:

• Make sure all lights are on - and that goes for overhead lights, floor lamps, undermount lighting in bathrooms and kitchens, lights in hood vents, everything. Light and bright.
• Make sure there are no dishes in the kitchen sink. How hard is it to load and run the dishwasher the night before so that all dirty dishware can be stowed away in the dishwasher the following day? Answer: not hard. Be proactive and get 'er done.
• Make sure countertops and stovetops are cleaned of any and all dust, dirt and food debris. One of my greatest gag-inducing pet peeves is bits of food left out on countertops or stovetops. To quote Calvin and Hobbes: BLLEECCHHH! No food residue, please.
• Floors should be vacuumed or swept daily, and mopped at least twice a week while the home is listed - and well-trodden areas should be mopped daily (I'm in love with my Bona spray mop - click here to find it on amazon).
• Remove all animal beds, crates, litterboxes, etc. from the living space of the home prior to the showing and toss them in the garage, back of your car, etc. Even if you can't smell the pet beds, others can - trust me. You don't want a potential buyer's first statement in your home to be, "Oh, great - I can smell the dogs."
• Dust windowsills, coffee tables, side tables, surfaces, etc.
• When in doubt, air our your home about an hour before the showing. Open all the windows, turn on all bathroom fans, and bring some nice fresh air in. Let fresh outside air permeate your whole home for about 30 minutes and air everything out.
• Bonus move/pro tip: want to go Betty-Crocker-overboard and titillate the hell out of your visitors? Bake some chocolate chip cookies and take them out of the oven about 30 prior to the showing. Present them on a nice, clean platter, and leave some cute cocktail napkins for mouth-wiping (I'm a bird fanatic, so I love these cocktail napkins on Amazon).
• Check the bowls and undersides of toilets - I you know what I mean (cue the gagging). Clean as necessary.
• After manically running performing final touch ups up until 5 minutes prior to the buyers arriving, shuffle your pets, kids, and spouses into the car and get the heck out. You NEVER want to be at the property for a showing unless it's absolutely necessary for some unavoidable reason. Give the buyers their space to fall in love with your home.

A few things we've we've remembered in the first stages of this process:

1. It is never too early to start planning. Start preparing your home for sale well in advance. Start sorting through items you want to keep vs. items you want to take to the dump. Be ruthless - if you haven't opened that sealed box in 5 years, you probably don't need whatever's in it. Slash and burn, baby.

2. Exterior presentation truly matters. While buyers are examining the inside of your home to gauge whether they can see themselves living life in your house, they're also definitely looking at the exterior as well. A tidy yard with new mulch and trimmed plants makes a HUGE impact. I nearly opted out of new mulch, and that would have been a horrible idea. The less a buyer sees that they'll have to fix/do/take care of once they move in, the likelier they are to view your home favorably and submit an offer.

3. DECLUTTER IS YOUR NEW FAVORITE WORD. As I've said hundreds of times, the way we sell homes is not generally the way we live in homes. Clear out excess furniture, take those family pics shot at Disney World down, and simplify, simplify, simplify. Think elegant, spacious, airy .

4. Cleanliness is next to godliness. This phrase rings especially true for getting your home sold. The cleaner the better. I'm a fan of going overboard on the cleaning because it has a huge impact on the way buyers perceive homes.

Thank you for reading, and next week we will delve into Part 2 of this saga.

AN OFFER FROM LEAH: I don't just sell homes; I help sellers prepare to sell homes far in advance. If you've been considering selling within the next few years, don't wait - CALL ME. Let's meet and go over your home so that we can devise a strategy for you to prepare your home to sell. This will help you destress, focus, and have a plan to execute so that when the time is right, your home presents beautifully and sells quickly for the highest price.

Cheers,