Agents who list in Highland Park, University Park and Preston Hollow tell us the same thing: buyers notice light before they notice anything else, and dirty windows make a bright house look dim. Eco Cleaning Window Services does pre-listing window cleaning across those neighborhoods, and the timing that works best is three to five days before the listing photos, after the landscaping crew has finished and before the stager arrives. Here is why, and what the job should include.
Why it matters more in Highland Park
Homes along Beverly Drive, Armstrong Parkway and the streets around Lakeside Park tend to carry a lot of glass: tall casement windows, French doors to the patio, transoms over the entry, sometimes an entire wall facing the pool. All of that glass is in the photos. In a market where the first showing is on a phone screen, a gray film on the glass reads as a gray house. Clean glass makes the rooms look bigger and the light look expensive, which is exactly what the listing is selling.
The sequence that avoids re-doing work
- Exterior repairs and painting first, because overspray and sanding dust land on glass.
- Pressure washing of the drive, walk, patio and pool deck next. Washing throws spray onto lower panels, so it has to come before the glass.
- Landscaping after that. Mulch, mowing and blowers put dust in the air for a day.
- Window cleaning, inside and out, including screens, tracks and sills.
- Staging and photos within five days, while everything is still clean.
Put the glass before the pressure washing and you will be paying for it twice.
What a pre-listing window clean should include
- Exterior glass with purified water so it dries spot-free, including upper floors from the ground.
- Interior glass by hand, every pane, including the ones behind furniture and blinds.
- Screens removed, washed and reinstalled. A clean window behind a dirty screen still photographs gray.
- Tracks and sills wiped. Buyers open windows at showings. Dead bugs in the track end that conversation.
- Glass doors, transoms and sidelights. These are the first glass a buyer touches.
- Mirrors and glass shower doors on request. Not technically windows, but the photographer shoots them.
What to tell us before we quote
Three things set the price: the number of panes, how much of the glass is interior, and whether there is heavy mineral spotting from sprinklers. Send a few exterior photos and the address and we reply the same day with a range. A typical Highland Park home takes between three and six hours with two technicians; estates with pool walls and multi-story glass can run a full day.
Hard-water spots and etching
Sprinkler heads aimed at the house are common in these neighborhoods and they leave mineral spotting on the lower panels. Light spotting comes off with purified water. Spotting that has been baking in for years etches the glass and needs a restoration polish, which is a separate line item. We tell you which you have before we start, not after.
Showings after the photos
Once the home is listed, the glass needs to hold through showings. Dust settles on interior glass within two to three weeks, and the patio doors get fingerprints at every open house. Many agents book a light touch-up of entry glass and patio doors every two weeks until the home goes under contract.
Interior glass the photographer will find
Listing photographers shoot into the light, which means every window behind the camera becomes a mirror and every window in front of it becomes a light source. Both show dirt. The glass most often missed before a shoot is the high transom over the front door, the sidelights beside it, the clerestory windows in a double-height living room and the glass in the kitchen backsplash or pantry door. Walk the house with the photographer's angles in mind and point out anything with glass in it, and we will include it in the quote.
One more thing buyers notice
The pool deck. Clean glass looking out on a stained deck undoes the effect. If you are pressure washing anyway, have the deck, the coping and the patio done on the same visit so the view through those freshly cleaned doors is worth looking at.
Listing a home in Highland Park, University Park, Lake Highlands or Preston Hollow? Request a pre-listing quote or see what our residential service covers.