Selling your house can be an exhausting process, and selling during the summer brings its own special challenges. One of the most noticeable is that you may be away on vacation when people want to attend a house showing. Fortunately, you can turn this challenge into an opportunity.

If you plan to hold house showings while you are away, the first thing you need to do is ensure that your home is cleaned up. You should go through the house to make sure it is clean and tidy, just as you would before any showing. The only difference is that you will need to do this before you head out on vacation. This means that preparing for your vacation will involve more work, but it also means that you can host a number of showings without having to clean the house again. After all, if you aren’t at home you can’t make any messes.

The second thing you will need to do is ensure that steps are taken to make sure the house is made welcoming for each potential buyer. This can involve some pre-planning, but it is worth it to show your house at its finest. Here is a checklist of steps to take to keep your home showing-ready when you aren’t there.

• Keep the house cool – Leaving the AC on and set to 20 or 21 degrees will turn your home into a welcome retreat from the summer heat. It will also be pleasant for any animals you may be leaving at home.
• Animal clean up – If you are leaving animals at home, ask a friend to come in to clean their cages, beds, and bowls, pick up leavings in the yard, and take free-roaming animals away during the showing. An even better alternative it so have the animals stay with a friend or at a kennel while you are gone, so there is one less worry to clean up.
• Keep your home bright – When you leave on vacation, leave the lights on and the blinds open to let light in. If you have a timer or are willing to buy one, you can set it so that your lights are on during the day and evening, and off at night when there won’t be showings.
• Keep the air fresh – You want the inside of your home to be full of fresh air, so make sure to clean out anything that might kick up a stink while you’re gone. It is also a good idea to ask a friend to come by and open some windows before a showing, in order to let the air in and freshen up the place. If you aren’t able to do that, a good alternative is to buy some air fresheners with very faint scents and place them in discrete areas. You don’t want to leave them out in the open, since that serves as a signal to your visitors that the house usually smells worse.
• Have a playlist – Having quiet, non-intrusive music playing while people visit your home is a nice touch, and there are a few easy ways to do that while you are away. Turning the radio on to a calm channel or having a TV stereo tuned to a classical or jazz station and keeping the sound low can help make your visitors feel at ease without the music intruding. Playing a custom playlist can have the same effect.
• Keep the yard fresh – Curb appeal is your first chance to impress potential buyers, so make sure your lawn and gardens stay watered and cut while you are gone. Wilting flowers and dry grass make a house look uncared for, and that turns buyers away. If you’re going to be away for a while, make sure to hire someone to come take care of this.