Aug 20 2008
How to Show Your Home Like a Pro
So you’ve heeded the advice of the experts and have de-cluttered your house and given it a first class make-over. Now you’re ready to open the door and let anyone who wants to, come in and see how glorious it is and also what a steal it is at the asking price. There is, however, still a little more work to be done in order to get it sold…
Some houses can quite easily sell themselves. Most, however, need a little help. Sellers often overlook the impression the layout of their homes has on potential buyers, thinking that if the décor is looking good then that’s enough. Unfortunately, it’s not. If the layout of the rooms in your house is a little unconventional, then you might need to take control when it comes to showing your home. For example, if on entering your home, a buyer is faced with having to choose between entering a bedroom or the living room, then it will create the impression of order if they enter the living room first. It never pays to confuse potential buyers. Furthermore, if a buyer starts to wonder whether the rooms are actually being used for what they were intended for or are having to be used for an alternative purpose, this will undoubtedly get them asking questions (silently to themselves, of course) as to whether the house is really big enough. Lead potential buyers around your house when you show it, that way there won’t be any confusion and you can structure the viewing so as to create the right impression.
As well as taking control when showing potential buyers around your home, always lead a buyer into a room — that way you get to position him or her in the spot where the room can be viewed at its absolute best. If the master bedroom looks best viewed from just in front of the window then lead your buyer to that spot.
While it’s important to be honest to a potential buyer, there’s no reason why you should highlight any less than positive features of your home. Gloss over its negative aspects and play up its positives. Language is very important when showing potential buyers around: a small room is never small, it’s cozy and compact. If the shape of a room is unconventional (and perhaps requires a little creativity when it comes to arranging the furniture in it), then talk about the wonderful character the room possesses.
Point out things that are not immediately obvious. The living room might get the benefit of the sun for most of the day (and this could be important to a potential buyer), but if you’re showing your home on a grey, cloudy winter’s morning, a buyer won’t get to see this, so make sure they know it.
A clever real estate agent will be able to weed out of a potential buyer exactly what they are — and are not — looking for in a property and adjust their sales pitch accordingly. If a buyer is in his or her twilight years and makes a remark about not being able to clean windows as often as they would like, then immediately the small windows in the house become a positive feature rather than perhaps a negative one. It’s therefore important to engage potential buyers in conversation to glean what type of lifestyle they lead and what type of home they are looking for: then adapt your pitch to highlight all those aspects of your house that you think will suit the buyer and that he or she will find attractive.
If there’s a feature of your property that you believe might be a sticking point when it comes to a sale, for example, if there’s a pond in the garden which could cause concern for a buyer with young children, then have details of how much it would cost to fill in the pond or similar. And if applicable, let a buyer know that you are prepared to take any concerns into account when negotiating the sale price. But again, there’s no need to point out the potential hazards if your buyer doesn’t, just make sure you answer all questions honestly.
It might take a little practice, but once you’ve shown a few potential buyers around you’ll have your sales pitch perfected — that’s if you don’t get a sale before then of course!
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