When you put your home on the market, there’s a whole list of to-dos that are essential if you want to get it sold fast. Tackling repairs and obvious cosmetic issues top the list. Then there’s the process of cleaning, decluttering, and staging your home. As part of this process, getting your carpets cleaned is one step you don’t want to skip.
Ready to learn more? If so, check out the following guide brought to you by Real Life Home.
Reason # 1 – Cleaning Makes Your Carpet Look Like New
The most obvious reason to get carpets professionally cleaned is the one you’ll notice immediately: carpet cleaning eliminates years’ worth of dirt and stains to make your floors look like new.
Some sellers who have older flooring wonder if they should replace it, or else they worry that buyers will request a flooring allowance. The brilliant thing about professional carpet cleaning is that a good company can get rid of the dirt that vacuuming and other DIY cleaning methods leave behind.
Hot Tip – Clear Away Clutter First
Giving your whole house a deep cleaning is one of several necessary steps for selling, but before you clean, you have to start by clearing away clutter. This will make it easier for cleaners to reach every spot, and the open look that decluttering creates will make your home more attractive to buyers – both in person and in photos.
Hot Tip – Hire a Pro
Some sellers try to get by with cleaning carpets themselves, but you’ll be selling yourself short if you do. When you hire an experienced company, you can be sure that you’re getting the most thorough results, leaving you with floors that are residue-free and softer than ever.
Just remember to wear a mask when the cleaners are doing their job; even though you’re not actively cleaning the carpets yourself, wearing a mask can help you avoid inhaling any chemicals they’re using. Also, a mask can keep you from breathing in any allergens and irritants the cleaning process stirs up.
Reason #2 – Carpet Cleaning Eliminates Odors
Even if you don’t have an obvious source of odor, don’t assume that your carpets smell fresh. We all get accustomed to the smells in our own homes, which means there’s a good chance that lingering smells are there and you just don’t realize it. This is a common experience, and it even has a name: being noseblind!
Some cleaning and deodorizing methods lift certain odors, at least temporarily, but these methods typically don’t attack smells at the source. As Popular Science explains, it doesn’t do much good to simply mask odors. Instead, you want to get to their source to actually eliminate them, and hiring a pro is the best way to get this result.
Hot Tip – Allow Time for the Carpet Cleaning Smell to Dissipate
Getting professional carpet cleaning will remove bad odors from your floors and leave your home smelling fresh. This is a good thing, but a neutral smell is best when you’re selling since some people are very sensitive to smells. For this reason, you may want to have your floors cleaned a couple of days before your first open house or showing.
Reason #3 – Carpet Cleaning Eliminates Allergens
You may not want to think about it, but carpets are really good at trapping all kinds of allergens like dust mites, pollutants in the environment, and bacteria – just to name a few. These particles are not only harmful to your health, but they can also trigger an allergic response. Just like you don’t want buyers turning their noses up at a bad small, you don’t want someone to have a coughing fit, either.
Hot Tip – Keep Allergens From Coming Back
If at all possible, take steps to keep these allergens from seeping back into carpets while your home is on the market. This may mean keeping pets out of carpeted rooms and removing shoes before going in.
Final Thoughts
With all the big issues buyers have to consider, you may wonder why floors are so important. The truth is that the smallest thing, like an offensive smell or dingy floors, can make buyers walk away before giving your home a chance. Getting carpets cleaned may be one of those small things, but it’s a big way to create the right first impression.
