Tips for Getting Your Home Ready for Showings in Minutes
In our busy, competitive market activity is strong, with scores of buyers attending open houses and agents busy taking buyers out for house showings.
For those homeowners fortunate to be in the position of being in a local market that favors sellers, being showing ready is essential...at all times. This is especially true in the first couple of weeks after you go live on the MLS.
Here are some video tips on how to sell a house!
Life is busy – perhaps with jobs or working at home, kids, pets, chores, entertaining, exercising, and so on. How does one continue to do what needs to be done yet at the same time have the house ready for showings at all times. As some sellers said yesterday when I listed their home and they spent hours getting their home ready for the photo shoot – this is NOT how we live every day.
Truer words couldn’t be spoken.
However, if you are serious about selling, you must face the fact you are likely to get many requests for showings, so you have to be prepared. The best solution, of course, is to have your home ready to welcome buyers any second. Always.
Your reality may be quite different.
QUICK TIPS FOR PREPARING FOR SHOWINGS
So here are some easy tips to help prepare for showings in a short amount of time.
Let in the light! Open the drapes, curtains, shutters and/or blinds
Turn on all the lights
Make the beds
Be sure all toilet seats are down
Run the vacuum quickly
Make sure all appliances are off (no one wants to listen to your dishwasher)
Have AC on if it’s hot or furnace if it’s cold
Pick up clothes and toys
Wipe off kitchen counters and table(s)
Remove any dirty dishes or laundry laying around
Have a cat? Be sure the litter box is cleaned out and hidden away
If you have a dog, pick up any dog droppings in the yard
Make sure there are feature sheets and other information your Realtor provided on the table
Leave the house before showing time
Some sellers want to run around and light every scented candle in sight. Personally, I wouldn’t. Buyers may be suspicious you are hiding something (which of course you aren’t, right?!). And some may be allergic. You want to encourage buyers to hang out and enjoy your home, not want to leave as fast as possible because of the smell that makes them sneeze or wheeze.
PROTECT YOUR IDENTITY AT SHOWINGS
Another key component of showing preparation (this goes for open houses, too) is to protect your identity. Be sure to remove personal items and items of value (jewelry, small tech devices), as well as any documents that contain personal identity and account information (e.g., leases, bank account statements, credit card accounts).
Being prepared for showings will help you avoid the stress and anxiety of running around at the last minute frantically throwing things in closets (which buyers will look in anyhow). Or worse, running out of time and having your home not look as good as it should.
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