Important Points for When Your Home Is Shown

When your home is on the market, it's important to make it readily available to be shown to prospective buyers. Here are some tips to help you get ready:

• Increase your chances. The more people who see your home, the more likely you are to sell it quickly. Yes, it’s inconvenient to show your home at dinnertime, but if the people buy your home, isn’t it worth it?

• There shouldn’t be any major housecleaning at this point. The kinds of tasks you ought to be concerned with now are simple ones: making the beds, stuffing last night’s dirty pans in the dishwasher, picking up loose newspapers, etc. Even young children can participate by “cleaning” their rooms.

• If the season is appropriate, open the windows in each room and let in some fresh air. Stale air isn’t appealing. And if you smoke . . . do it outside while your house is listed. Non-smokers are very sensitive to stagnate smoke smell, and nothing is more of a turnoff.

• Keep your thermostat at a comfortable setting. If it’s too cold or too hot, a buyer won’t stick around very long to really see what your home has to offer.

• Turn on all the lights for every showing before prospective buyers arrive. This also gives you an opportunity to select the lighting effects you want for each room. No area of your home should be dark.

• Turn off the television and turn on light, background music.

• Arrange for pets and children to be at a neighbors. Perhaps it’s unfair to lump children with pets, but young children can distract buyers from their purpose. Keep pets away from buyers.

• “De-personalize” the house as much as possible. Take down any extra family pictures that are hanging on the walls or displayed on the shelves. They will often distract the buyer’s attention from what is most important ... the house!

• Most importantly, please leave the home during all showings. It is uncomfortable and difficult for buyers to view the home when owners are present. Oftentimes, they will rush through the home and not give it the proper attention your home deserves. It is also hard for the buyers to “picture themselves” living in the home when the sellers are present.

For more tips when selling your home, see my Seller's section at Pearl River County Homes.