# How do I prepare my house for showings? > Mostly instructions rather than renovations. The one-time work, the routine before each showing, and what a Utah winter or summer adds to it. - Author: Kelsey Earl, Realtor, Keller Williams South Valley - Location: Utah, Utah - Section: The Herriman Insider - Published: 2026-10-27 - Canonical: https://homesbykelseyut.com/blog/how-do-i-prepare-my-house-for-showings - Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mRT2k1RXJY - Contact: 801-419-8917 ยท Kelsey.earl@kw.com --- **Quick answer:** Mostly by cleaning, decluttering and lighting rather than by renovating. The one-time work is a deep clean, removing roughly a third of your belongings, and fixing every small visible defect. Then it becomes a routine you run before each showing, which is the part people underestimate. --- Preparing a Utah house for showings is mostly instructions rather than renovations, and that is the good news. Sellers brace for a contractor and a budget. What actually moves showings is cheaper and more tedious: cleaning, removing things, turning on lights, and fixing the small defects that make a buyer wonder what else was neglected. There are two phases. The one-time work before photos, and the routine you run before every showing. The second one is where people run out of stamina. ## Phase one: before the photographs Do all of this before the camera arrives, because the photos are what determine whether anyone comes at all. ### Deep clean, and further than you think Windows inside and out, baseboards, grout, inside the oven and the refrigerator, light fixtures. Buyers read cleanliness as maintenance. A spotless older house shows better than a grubby newer one. ### Remove about a third of your belongings Not tidy them. Remove them. Counters, closets, the garage, surfaces generally. Buyers read empty space as large space, and full closets read as inadequate storage no matter their actual size. ### Depersonalize the obvious Family photographs, collections, anything that makes a buyer feel like a visitor rather than a prospective owner. ### Fix every small visible defect The loose handle, the running toilet, the torn screen, the sticking door, the burned-out bulbs. If you want the full list before a buyer's inspector writes it, [a pre-listing inspection](/blog/what-is-a-pre-listing-inspection) is how sellers get it on their own timeline. Individually trivial. Collectively they tell a story about how the house has been looked after, and that story shows up in the offer. ### Maximize light Open every blind, clean every window, replace dim bulbs with brighter ones and make them consistent in color. This is the single highest-return hour you will spend. [How to prepare your house for listing photos](/blog/how-to-prepare-your-house-for-listing-photos) goes deeper on the photography-specific part, and the photos matter more than any single showing does. ## Phase two: the routine before each showing The routine before each showing is the part nobody warns sellers about. Living in a listed house means running that routine, possibly on short notice, repeatedly. - Lights on throughout, including closets and the basement - Blinds open - Counters clear, beds made, toilet lids down - Dishes out of the sink and out of the dishwasher - Trash out - Pet bowls, litter and toys put away - Thermostat at a comfortable temperature Soft music is optional, and lightly scented is better than heavily scented. Then leave, and take the pets with you. **Have a bin or a bag for the fast version.** The realistic scenario is a showing request with little notice while you are getting out of the door. A single container you can sweep counters into and put in the car is the difference between showing well and not showing at all. ## Put the awkward details in your showing instructions Putting the awkward details in your showing instructions is the step sellers never think to take, and agents are grateful for it. A second lock. A smart lock and its quirk. A security bar. A door that sticks. An alarm code. A gate latch. An agent can plan around anything you tell them, and cannot plan around what they discover at the door. **If you cannot take the pet with you, say so in the instructions.** An agent who finds a dog nobody mentioned will usually end the showing on the doorstep, and that is a lost buyer rather than a delay. The same applies to anything that would otherwise read as a problem. A room mid-project, a known quirk with the water heater, a neighbor's dog. Named in advance it is context; discovered unannounced it is a red flag. ## What do sellers get wrong? Sellers get four things wrong around showings, in order of how much they cost. ### Being home during the showing It shortens visits and it stops buyers talking honestly in front of each other. [Whether to be at showings of your own house](/blog/should-i-be-at-showings-of-my-own-house) covers why I ask sellers to leave, and the answer is about buyer behavior rather than trust. ### Leaving pets in the house Some buyers are allergic, some are frightened, and almost all are distracted. [What to do with pets when selling a house](/blog/what-to-do-with-pets-when-selling-a-house) covers the options. ### Declining showings for inconvenience Every declined showing is a buyer who saw something else instead. Early in a listing, when attention is highest, this is expensive. ### Over-improving instead of cleaning A renovation weeks before listing rarely returns its cost. [Whether to lower the price or fix up the house first](/blog/should-i-lower-the-price-or-fix-up-my-house-before-selling) is the honest version of that decision, and [whether a kitchen remodel increases value](/blog/does-a-kitchen-remodel-increase-home-value) covers why the small version beats the big one. ## Do you need staging? You do not always need staging, and it depends on whether the house reads clearly without it. An empty house with unusual rooms benefits most, because buyers struggle to judge scale and purpose in a bare space. An occupied house that is already clean and uncluttered often needs very little. [Whether to stage a home in Herriman](/blog/should-i-stage-my-home-in-herriman) covers when the cost is justified. The cheap version of staging is the one worth doing regardless: make every room's purpose obvious. A room doing three jobs confuses buyers, and a confused buyer discounts. This matters most on an open plan, [whether open floor plans are going out of style](/blog/are-open-floor-plans-going-out-of-style) covers why buyers now look for one room that closes. ## Outside counts before inside People decide something in the first few seconds, and those seconds happen at the curb and the front door. Mow, edge, pull weeds, clear the path, clean the front door and its hardware, put a fresh mat down. In the northern valleys in winter, that means clearing snow and ice properly before every showing, including the walk. In Washington County, it means the landscaping actually being alive, [how to keep a yard alive in St. George](/blog/how-do-i-keep-a-yard-alive-in-st-george) is the practical version of that problem. Put the bins out of sight. Move the vehicles off the driveway so buyers can see it and park on it. ## The smell problem Worth its own section because it is the one thing sellers genuinely cannot assess themselves. You cannot smell your own house. Pets, cooking, smoke, damp, a basement, a litter tray. Your nose adjusted to all of it years ago, and a buyer's nose has not. Smell is also the hardest thing for a buyer to talk themselves past, because it reads as a condition problem rather than a housekeeping one. So handle it structurally rather than by covering it. Launder soft furnishings, clean carpets properly, deal with any damp at the source, and get pet items out of the house rather than tidied away. Then open the windows. **Avoid heavy air fresheners and candles.** A strong scent reads as concealment, and some buyers react badly to it. Clean and aired beats fragranced every time. Then ask someone who does not live there to walk in and tell you honestly, and believe what they say rather than explaining it away. Smell is the most common reason a buyer who liked the photographs does not write an offer. ## What I actually see Sellers who did the one-time work beautifully and then let the routine slide by week three. That is the pattern, and it is understandable, because living this way is genuinely tiring. But the buyers arriving in week three are new buyers. They did not see the house in week one and they have no idea it used to show better. The only version they will ever know is the one in front of them. The other thing I see is sellers who cannot see their own house any more. You stop noticing the scuff, the smell, the cluttered corner, because you live with it. Ask someone blunt to walk through and tell you what they notice, and believe them. ## What to do next Do the one-time work before the photographs, not after. Deep clean, remove a third of everything, fix the small defects, and sort out the lighting. Then build the fast routine and the sweep-up bin, and accept every showing you reasonably can. If you are listing in either of my markets, [how to sell a house in Herriman](/blog/how-do-i-sell-my-house-in-herriman-utah) and [how to sell a house in St. George](/blog/how-do-i-sell-my-house-in-st-george) cover the local process around all of this, including what buyers in each place react to. I am Kelsey Earl, a Realtor with Keller Williams South Valley, and I would rather give you a checklist than a contractor. [Tell me when you are listing](/home-value) and I will walk your house and tell you exactly what to do first. --- Source: https://homesbykelseyut.com/blog/how-do-i-prepare-my-house-for-showings Any market figure in this post is accurate only where a date and source are stated alongside it.