If your home is listed with an agent, you need to be asking yourself this question. Am I SELLI
NG my home, or is my home just "For Sale"?
Let me first explain to you the difference between the two so that you can better answer that question.
Someone that is SELLING their home, has a home that is always clean & has been depersonalized and de-cluttered, the lawn is always maintained, the home can be shown at a moment's notice, you leave during all showings and there is a lock box on the door for agent access.
A person that has a home For Sale has a tendency to leave the house in not so tip-top condition, hasn't bothered to mow the lawn in about 2 weeks and it's now knee high, refuses showings because it's "bad timing", likes to hang around during the showings or refuses to let the listing agent put a lock box on the door.
If you're still having a hard time answering this question, let me ask you some other questions to help you out:
- Have you ever refused a showing because you forgot to pick up your dirty underwear or wash last nights dishes which are still sitting in the sink or on the counters, and the agent wants to show your home before you are able to get home & pick things up and clean the house, so you tell them no?
- Does your lawn still look like it hasn't been mowed in about a month and the garbage cans are still sitting at the curb, and garbage day was 2 days ago?
- Do you require 24 hours notice?
- Do you only allow your home to be shown during your "off hours" from work because you want to be there for all showings to let the agent in?
- Do you require your agent to attend all the showings, so thus refusing to allow a lock box to be placed on your home?
If you're answered YES to any of those questions, then you my friend are not SELLING your home. Your home is just "For Sale." Having your home "For Sale" in today's market versus SELLING your home could mean you won't be selling or moving at all, so you don't need to worry about cleaning it or mowing the lawn!
- You should never be refusing showings unless it's a family emergency, you have company over, you're in the middle of dinner or your kids are sick. You're trying to SELL your home, which means that your home needs to be shown on the buyer's schedule.....NOT YOUR'S! Your home should always be spotless (or as clean as possible if you have kids), and if that means you have to stay up an hour later each night cleaning and picking up the house, then that's what you have to do. You should never leave for work with dirty dishes left out, dirty clothes on the floor or a dirty house in any other sort of way. If someone calls at 11am and wants to see it at 11:15am, then you need to be prepared for this! If you want your home SOLD, then live in a home that is in tip-top condition at ALL times or as much as possible if you have kids.
- If your lawn doesn't look AS GOOD OR BETTER than the day it was listed and all the photos were taken, then you have some work to do! If the lawn is not well maintained and garbage cans are laying at the curb with 3 days of newspapers at the end of the driveway that you haven't bothered to pick up, then it usually means the inside of the home is dirty, which also means you probably haven't maintained your home in any sort of way, which in turn screams to the buyer to RUN!!!
- Why do you require 24 hours notice? Unless it's a tenant occupied house, there is no reason why you need to have 24 hours notice!! Selling a home in an inconvenience that you will have to deal with for a few months if you want your home sold. By requiring agents to provide 24 hours notice for showings, probably will result in less showings. Many buyers call last minute and want to see a home right away or within a couple of hours. You need to be willing to work with them. Some agents see that requiring 24 hours notice and you refusing showings with anything less than 24 hours notice as difficult people to work with and they may advise their buyer that you are probably not serious about selling and may be difficult to work with. NEXT!!
- Ok, so if you're one of these people that insists on being there for all showings and you have to be there to let them in, GOOD LUCK! You're gonna need it. Chances are you probably aren't going to sell your home either. Many people like to look at homes during the day...while you're at work...and if they can't get in, then that's another buyer you've potentially lost. Most times, they will NOT call back to reschedule. There are too many other homes that are available to get into much easier. And as much as you think you may be helping the situation by being there to let us in and you're there to answer any questions.....buyer's HATE when homeowners are home! They feel like they are intruding in your home and they don't feel comfortable looking in closets or cabinets. In fact, most times they will rush through the home to get out quickly because it is so uncomfortable having a seller there.
- If you don't allow an agent to put a lock box on the home or you require your agent to be there for all showings....once again, GOOD LUCK, you're gonna need it! I know I certainly don't have time to hunt your agent down and drive somewhere else to go pick up a key or to try and work around your agents schedule to show my buyer your property! There are too many other homes on the market to waste time driving some place to pick up a key that I will then have to drive back to return it, or to re-schedule my entire showing schedule because your agent has to be there to let me in and it's bad timing for them. NEXT!!
Having a "For Sale" sign in your yard and your home listed in the MLS isn't going to do you one bit of good if you're refusing showings, allowing showings while your home is dirty, requiring to be there for all showings, not allowing a lock box to be placed on the home, not maintaining the home or the yard or requiring your listing agent to be there for all showings!
As I said before selling a home can be a big inconvenience. BUT, if your home is in tip-top shape and ready to show at a moment's notice without any hassle or anyone hovering over the agent that is there showing the home, chances are higher that you will sell it faster and move on. If not, then you will probably end up dealing with the inconvenience of selling your home much longer than you really needed to if you'd of just been a little bit more flexible.
You need to be impressing a buyer. Not turning a buyer off! There are way too many other homes for sale that you are competing with and it's too easy for a buyer to say, "You know what, never mind. We don't really need to see that one."
So let me ask you this question one last time. Are you SELLING your home, or is your home just "For Sale"?
Don't forget to read my article on pricing a home in today's market!!
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