The Deadly Sins of Selling Your Home

Just back from the trenches after a few days of trying to find the perfect house for my buyers, I've got to speak my mind! We spend so much time trying to gain access to homes that it made me wonder if the sellers who are trying to sell these homes had any idea of how difficult it was on our end!

Let me state, my clients are motivated, qualified and soon to be homeless. This was not a fire drill for them, they came prepared to buy with a checkbook in hand.

Mr. and Mrs. Seller if you are anxious to sell your home, please take notice:

• Ask to review the MLS Listing sheet as soon as it is available. Check your agent's work. That means don't just look for mistakes but look for what is missing. We love to know lot sizes and whether or not you have a basement, fireplace or other desirable goodies. Your agent most likely will appreciate your added suggestions, I know my buyers will also.
• Brochures in the box are very helpful, particularly when we find a neighborhood we love and we want to know if we can afford your home. Yes, I can call or use my iPhone to access MetroList, but jumping out of the car is not only quicker it gives us some exercise!
• Please don't play "Let's Make a Deal" with the showing time. I so wish I could honor your privacy and show up within a small window of time, but I have little control over clients who go either too slow or too fast and also decide to look at several unscheduled homes along the way. I promise to do the best I can. Remember the wise saying that goes like this, "Make it easy to business with me and I will do business with you."
• Don't lock the storm door when the lock box in on the interior door. Houdini I'm not.
• Shovel your walk. Park your pooch. Hide the kitty. We love them, but we want to be safe.
• Some real estate showing services are awesome and others well we wondered if they exist. Be a secret shopper and try to set a showing on your home. If you have a problem, you can just imagine we are too. With the amount of homes on the market it is easy to skip over yours if the service isn't up to par.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest there are quite a few things we appreciated...

• Bottled water is always a hit. Often times we hadn't had a drop to drink in hours.
• We love the aroma of fresh baked cake/cookies. Sometimes dishes were even left out for us. Not required of course but duly noted. Thank you!
• Full brochure boxes and all the disclosures are very important and helpful. Everyone likes to read about what they are buying.
• Clean homes.
• Parked dogs, kitties and shoe covers.
• We enjoyed viewing the home's photo albums from the variety of seasons.
• Utility bills are oh so critical when crunching the numbers.

Selling your home is not an easy thing to do, but when you consider the customer needs you may end up selling it quicker and ending the pain sooner. Mr. & Mrs. Seller I wish you well!