Previously we discussed some important tips for preparing your home for sale. Now here are five quick tips for showing your home, once it’s on the market.
1. A question we receive almost every time we go to a seller’s home is should they take down all of their family photos and personal touches. We tell all of our clients that a house is made a home with these small personal touches, and they can help make a potential buyer envision their own family living there. Don’t listen to the advice you used to hear years ago on HGTV about completely depersonalizing. If you have an abundance of family photos and collages, taking a few down can be favorable, but leaving some of these around help create a warmer environment.
2. Declutter your kitchen! We are all guilty of leaving the toaster, coffee maker, knife block, paper towel holder, etc. out on the counter for convenient access and use. However, these items — no matter how evenly spaced and clean they may be — can create a look of clutter in your kitchen. Remove all the extras from the counters, and you will be amazed at how much more spacious your kitchen looks. All the extra counter space will most certainly appeal to buyers.
3. LIGHT IT UP! Turn on all the lights, and open all curtains and blinds before showings. This will make your house look light, bright, and open. When a realtor can enter your home with buyers and have your home ready to show, the showing will go completely different than if they are fumbling around to find out which light switch goes to which room. Meanwhile, one buyer has gone upstairs, one is in the kitchen, and the nature of the showing has completely changed.
4. Keep an empty laundry basket on each level of your home. Inevitably, you will receive last minute showing requests, or a buyer will want to come the one day you had to rush out of the house and leave it in a bit of disarray. A laundry basket on each level will allow you to quickly pick-up toys, clothes, mail, and other miscellaneous items that happen during daily living. This will help save you time, and will enable your home to show to the best of its ability.
5. Listen to feedback! This can be the HARDEST tip. Once your home is on the market, you have to be able to start looking at it from the outside in. If you receive some picky feedback here and there, you can always just take it with a grain of salt. However, if you hear time and again that something doesn’t show well, or that your house is priced too high, you have to try to emotionally remove yourself from the situation and make the business decision (as hard as it may be) to listen to the feedback and make the change that will sell your home.
For more information, call the Amy Cherry Taylor & Associates Customer Service Line 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at 540-632-2824, or reach me directly at 703-577-0135. Thanks for reading!
More
Simple Steps for Preparing Your Home to Sell
How Interest Rates Impact Your Home Buying Power
The Benefits to Buying a Home and Who You Should Call to Help
