This week I went to preview approximately 25 properties in my service areas.  The reason real estate agents preview properties is so that we can speak about a property intelligently to our buyers and can show the property seamlessly.

We all know that it is taking longer to sell properties in today's market than it was 6 months ago.  Realtors should be advising home owners on how to make their home stand out from the competition.  Professionally staging a home can potentially help sell it for more money and in less time.

However, what has struck me more than anything else this week has been the lack of effort by the homeowners in preparing their houses to show.  I am not even talking about staging but cleaning.  A home owner should have the common sense to clean their home before showing.  Several of the houses I previewed this week had dishes in the sink, unmade beds and were overall very messy.  They were also very dirty.  I really got a kick out of one of the home owners that requested that I remove my shoes before entering the house.  I had to change my socks after I finished in the house.

On the other hand there were some houses that were immaculate!  They were clean and fresh.  They had the fireplaces roaring and music in the background.  I am sure most Realtors would prefer to show the clean houses than the dirty ones.  I found that I even got more excited and enthusiastic about a house that showed well.  This enthusiasm is relayed in my voice when I am calling my buyers to tell them about the house.

I think the best advice is to view a property as if you were seeing it from a buyer's perspective.  You only have one chance to make a first impression!

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