Your client has decided to sell their home; but of course that does not mean it is ready to hit the market quite yet. To sell high in least amount of time, it will have to impress buyers and, in most cases – the home will need to show well.
Home showings are an important, usually essential, part of the home selling process. This is when buyers view inside and lets them imagine living in the home. Buyers will be ready to place an offer after touring a few or a handful of homes. It is great when your listings are the ones that show best.
Below is a checklist for preparing a home showing as efficiently as possible:
Clean
Arrange for professionals to deep clean the home, and work it out with your client who will pay for that. Cabinet shelves, baseboards, switch-plates; all of these things should be made spotless before any potential buyers walk through.
Assess
Next you should walk through the home together with your client. You will be able to identify anything that could be a red flag to buyers; so then note it on a fix-it list.
Repair
Is something broken? If it is somewhat easy to fix then urge your client to do it! A few hundred dollars spent now could save you and your client thousands in time on the market and in contract negotiations later.
Reorganize and de-clutter
Homes that look roomy & spacious show best, rather than cluttered and narrow. To get this look, your client might need to de-clutter and store it in the garage, have a garage sale, store it off-site in a self-storage unit, or just donate it. Make sure closets are not over-packed, and that counters are mostly clear!
Staging
Home staging goes beyond cleaning and organizing; use interior design tips and tricks to make the home more inviting to the widest range of personality types and tastes. Some agents have home staging expertise and others may work with hired stagers. Just google “home staging tips”, “feng shui home staging tips”, and even ‘funny staging fails”.
Curbside Embellishment
After the inside is all straightened up, tidy up the outside for first-impression curb appeal. Wash the windows, freshen the flower beds, put a coat of paint on the front door. Your imagination can be used fill in all the major cracks and deficits, within the improvement budget.
The Pet Factor:
Pets are popular, but not everyone likes other people’s pets. If there are pets in your clients’ home, try to minimize their impact if possible so the pets, especially fur balls and scents, are not so obvious during a home showing. Pet beds should also be clean or out of sight, and toys placed in boxes or baskets or containers in closets, and the yard tidy enough.
These are just the basics. There are many more tricks to presenting a house to its full potential.
