Jay Mattlin, Real Estate Broker with Key Realty

According to a recent study, the average person's home is only completely clean 11 days per year! It also revealed that the definition of "completely" is a bit generous. Many of the people surveyed admitted that they tend to focus their attention on a few obvious things, like their rugs and floors, but ignore the finer details like wiping down shelves, appliances, and countertops.

Hey, everyone has their own level of comfort when it comes to the cleanliness of their home, and they shouldn't be judged or shamed just because of a few dust bunnies or crumbs! Well, unless you're selling your house…

When preparing your house for sale, it's not only important to focus on cleaning the areas that are obvious to the naked eye, but also some cracks and crevices that often go unnoticed by a homeowner, because neglecting these areas can leave a negative impression on potential buyers.

If you want to set yourself apart from the competition when selling your home, here's a list of 10 things to clean before putting your house up for sale that many home other sellers might overlook:

1) Baseboards

Whoever originally decided baseboards should usually be white wasn't thinking! These things are magnets for dust and dirt, yet they often don't get the love and attention a floor or rug does when a room gets vacuumed.

2) Ceiling Fans

You'd think a ceiling fan would be self-cleaning, right? How does the dust stick to it when it's whirling around like that?

Pro tip: Make sure you turn the fan off before cleaning it…

3) Windows

Remember: windows have two sides, and if you don't clean them from the inside of the house and the outside, you might as well not do it at all. And no, that is not permission to just avoid doing it.

4) Window Tracks

It's not like every buyer will open every single window in your house, but there's always a chance that a serious buyer will open a window or two. Unfortunately, there's no guessing which two windows it'll be, so make sure you clean the window sills and tracks of every window.

5) Blinds and Curtains

Let's be honest, blinds are annoying to clean even with those fancy gadgets they sell made specifically for sliding through a bunch of the slats at one time. But it beats having a buyer judging your house (and you!) poorly when they take a peek out of your window to get a glimpse of your yard.

6) Switch Plates

You get so used to where your light switches are when you live in a house that you probably never even look when you slap the lights on. But buyers and their agents love to turn on every single light in the house when they come for a showing, so there's a good chance they'll be looking more closely at every single lightswitch as they're trying to figure out which light it turns on.

7) Underneath Furniture

Are buyers going to rearrange your furniture and lift up your sofa? Probably not, but they might still notice the layer of dust, pet hair, and crumbs you might not notice peeking out from under chairs and tables.

8) Vents

These are like close cousins to ceiling fans. How does something that's constantly blowing air in or out of a room collect so much dust?

9) Cabinet Interiors

Don't let those plates and mugs fool you! Dust, dirt, and cobwebs collect on the shelves even in the cabinets you use on a daily basis.

10) Appliances

If your appliances don't look clean on the outside, buyers are definitely going to wonder how dirty they are on the inside!

For most people, saving for a down payment is one of the first steps towards making their dream of homeownership a reality. But saving a significant chunk of change requires discipline, and the right habits.

So, what habits should you establish if you want to buy a home in the not-so-distant future?

A recent video from realtor.com outlined key habits to get into when you're saving to purchase a home, including:

• Cut back wherever possible. If you want to save for a down payment, you need to review your budget and look for areas to cut b...

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It's hard to escape the talk about rising interest rates and how they're supposedly scaring away potential homebuyers. So if you've been thinking about selling, there's a good chance it might be causing you to put those plans on hold and wait for buyers to re-enter the market.

But before you put your home sale plans on hold, there's a timeless truth that bears repeating: there are always "life happens" buyers in the market looking to buy a home, as Marketplace recently reported in this article. While interest rates are a significant factor, they don't deter everyone from pursuing their dream home.

Here are some examples...

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Whether an extreme weather event causes flood waters to rush into your home, or a pipe bursts, dealing with a flooded basement is never fun, particularly if you don't know how to deal with it or what steps to take to fix the problem.

So how, exactly, do you deal with a flooded basement?

A recent article from realtor.com outlined what to do when your basement floods, including:

• Put safety first. If your basement floods, it's important to put safety first. Water and electricity do not mix, so before you step foot in the space, make sure to turn...

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