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Preparing Your Sellers for Home Showings

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with Properties Online, Inc.

Selling a home can be a long, complex process. If only selling a home was easy! But the reality is, selling a home is anything but easy (hey, that's why sellers need our expertise!) and while you as a real estate professional are well aware of this fact, not all home sellers realize just how much effort selling their home would require. It is therefore your job, as their agent, to prepare them for the process.

Preparing the home for the sale is different than preparing the sellers. Preparing the sellers is more about emotional preparedness. The most important thing you could do is to have a conversation with the sellers about the psychology of buying a house - instead of telling the sellers what they should and shouldn't do, explain how buyers act and react to different circumstances and how the sellers' behavior could therefore have a real impact on the sale process.

Above all, you want the sellers to be flexible and to realize that they will need to accept that some showings are going to be scheduled at the very last minute. They also need to realize that agents and buyers won't always be on time, and that it's important that they are not present in the house during showings, since this could be a serious turn-off for potential buyers who would feel uncomfortable truly exploring the home in the sellers' presence.

As much as the sellers are attached to the house and feel that it's "theirs," they need to realize that once the sale process starts, their home becomes a real estate property that needs to be sold. Their stuff, their presence and their opinions are not necessarily helpful and could in fact interfere. The more emotionally detached the sellers can be about the process, the easier it will be on them - and on you.

Do you have any tips for how to prepare a seller for home showings? Please post them here!

Comments (4)

Anonymous
Debbie Hegardt

What I also find helpful in preparing my sellers for potential buyers to come view their home is to have them wake up in the morning expecting the home to be shown; whether an agent has already set up the appointment or not. This means turning on lights, wiping down the bathrooms, opening blinda, putting all dishes away, dumping garbages, clutter gathered up, etc. This way, it instills in the sellers the positive mindset that the house WILL be shown and that they, as the sellers WILL be ready. This also eliminates the need for last minute scrambling to get the house in order should an agent call without a lot of notice.

Jan 05, 2010 01:14 PM
#1
Jessica Maria
Properties Online, Inc. - Santa Rosa, CA
Communications Manager for Properties Online, LLC

Thanks for the tip Debbie! I didn't know you were an active rainer! Running today?

Jan 06, 2010 03:13 AM
kathleen bonham
FHAllen, Sonoma Country and Vintage - Santa Rosa, CA

Amanda...This subtle distinction IS so important. Somebodies else's dirt is always dirter than your own!

Jan 11, 2010 01:15 AM
Jessica Maria
Properties Online, Inc. - Santa Rosa, CA
Communications Manager for Properties Online, LLC

Kathleen - you're so right! - at least about my dirt ;) which is pretty clean as far as dirt goes -- haha

Jan 11, 2010 10:07 AM