Looking to put your home on the market? Are you thinking of making a house showing yourself? Will it be the first time you expose your house?
Some main reasons to sell a home include a change in lifestyle, the need for a bigger or smaller house, or not being able to afford it more. Whatever your reasons for selling your home, we understand that you want to sell it to the right person.
Read below the 10 tips to show your home.
Top 10 Tips for showing your home
1. Appeal to the buyer’s visuals
When you buy a new home, it takes a lot of time and effort. Why? This is because you want to make sure that the living space you invest in is a place where you can feel comfortable.
Many real estate companies court buyers with simple things that appeal to their senses. Do the same with the colourful plants on the front steps. The brightly coloured flowers and mowed lawns make for a pleasant sight and bring them home to life.
Expand visual ease within the home, although this is a priority for most sellers. For example, keep your cables out of sight. If you want to store things randomly to give the interior a clean look, put them in a random item bin.
Having personal items like photo frames can make the buyer feel imposed. Be sure to save them, so homebuyers feel more welcoming. Before a visit, ensure all trash cans are empty, from the bathroom to the kitchen.
2. Practice touring around the house
Tours of the house are your tools to sell it. This makes the difference between organizing an open house and a screening. A visit lets you give buyers more information, while open houses put buyers working for it.
You don’t want your clients to work in any form of marketing. That is unless you are selling the thrill of the process, like escape rooms, for example.
Practice the order of the pieces you are going to show. Start at the front door or the reception area. However, if the client wants to lead, be flexible.
The home display allows buyers to peruse things and appreciate the space. Give them time to imagine living in the house. Don’t rush your visit and let buyers enter each room first.
Give your buyer some alone time in the middle or end of the tour. First, let them discuss the house and their promise with each other. Then, use this time to take a 20-minute break outside or in another room.
3. Be prepared to answer questions about the house
Expect buyers to ask you questions. You want to be ready to answer your buyer’s questions about the home. You should not stumble, take too long, or appear unsure about your answers.
Practice in front of the mirror how you are going to respond. Respond with facts rather than opinions. Make sure you know what you are talking about.
This means that you have to look for the unknowns in your house. For example, how old is your oven, or what are your air conditioning units? How safe is the neighbourhood, what are the closest school districts, etc.?
People born between 1980 and 1989 or “older millennials” account for 26% of all home sales. It should be noted that millennials can have unique ideas about their home plans. For example, you may be asked what the heaviest load that your bedroom ceiling beam can carry is.
4. Prepare documents and refreshments
Get copies of the necessary documents and staple them as documents. These documents may include the disclosure statement, property investigation, and homeowners association documents. Then, when you’re done with the tour and your buyers are about to leave, suggest they pick up a copy.
You can also print brochures for those interested to take home.
Sodas and snacks are also good to have on hand, especially if the weather demands it. Lemonade, iced tea, and bottled water are suitable beverages. Snacks can include baked cookies, brownies, take-out bags of trail mix or potato chips.
To keep the house tidy, prepare trash cans in the bedrooms. It would be polite to provide towels with the snacks. If you don’t have one, try other snacks or drinks suitable for a house party.
5. Don’t reveal your situation too much
You may be tempted to talk about your home if you are the talkative type. This is not a bad thing. However, educating interested buyers about the house is a good idea.
What you want to avoid is sharing your situation. Remember, buyers are there to view the home and learn more. So focus on the house, tell them about your story, and share the exciting things you discovered about it.
When a visitor asks you questions about personal matters, keep your answers vague. When asked why you are moving, tell them it is time to start a new chapter in your life. Bring the subject back to the property as quickly as possible.
6. Encourage touching stuff
Give buyers a little more work than pictures. Please give them a tactile experience with the textures of your home. Offer to let them touch your textiles for their surfaces.
To get the most money for your home without maximizing, try the following:
- Powder surfaces
- Vacuum the carpets
- Cleaning rugs
- Avoid used or dirty towels in bathrooms.
- If you plan to allow potential buyers to touch your surfaces, make sure they are clean. Wear what you have and stick with simple, familiar textiles. No need to buy fancy accessories for a home show.
7. Virtual screen or augmented reality technology
What if your buyer is out of town or doesn’t have time to come to the house in person? There are still ways to make a show at home possible. The solution is to try virtual projection, which uses virtual reality (VR) technology.
Like Google Street View, your buyer can walk and look around your home from their computer. They can do the tour independently and without their family having to leave their home for the screening. All you need to do is set up 3D VR in your home.
Another way to use modern technology is augmented or augmented reality. This tool helps your buyers see your home’s potential by pushing a button. For example, AR can help you know how the furniture will fit into your space.
8. Remove unwanted odours
Taking out the trash helps neutralize unwanted odours. Speaking of smells, you want to deodorize and freshen the house. Humans have a keen sense of smell, which allows us to distinguish countless scents.
Instead of overwhelming air fresheners, use natural flavours. The soft and almost invisible scents work very well to make the house feel like home. For example, the smell of clean bedding creates a great “welcome home” smell for shoppers.
A good tip for selling houses is to make them smell better with natural means. Grind the citrus peels in the trash or place the dried leaves in the drawers. Use mild-scented cleaners when cleaning.
While it is advisable to clean your home thoroughly, the lingering odour is not so good for the home. So clean thoroughly and freshen up before a spray with milder products. It also takes care of animal odours.
9. Emphasize the positive
With so many homes on the market, highlighting yours or selling them faster can be challenging. An excellent tip for displaying your home is to focus on the best things in your home. If you’ve ever bought a house, remember what you’ve seen before that made you want to buy it.
Now show your buyer the same potential you saw in the home. If you have added something to the house that makes it unique, present it to the buyer. It could be anything like a flower garden, the view from the kitchen sink, or a built-in bookshelf.
Median home prices are adjusted nationally every month. In the United States, the median home price in 2019 is $ 280,800, while entry-level homes cost around $ 219,000. If you are selling your home for a much higher price, you want to show potential buyers that it is worth it.
10. Use sound to sell
One of the best tips for showing a home is to use all the human senses to your advantage. We’ve covered sight, smell, and taste above. Now is the time to play the right music for your buyers’ ears.
One of your problems at home can be noisy neighbours. If you have noisy neighbours, let them know about upcoming home visits. Then, tell your neighbours that all they have to do is run the silent drill for a few hours and days.
If you cannot avoid street noise, use water fountains to reduce it. These features also give the house a zen atmosphere. Place water fountains in your front or backyard as they work best at close range.
Wind chimes are simple, more affordable, and have a variety of shades to choose from. You can also play non-vocal music to keep the sounds neutral. Don’t assume your buyer’s taste and push your music.
Perfect your home in style
These are 10 simple but effective tips for showing your home.
Selling a home requires a lot of patience and diligence. Remember, it takes more than a house to sell a house. It would help if you also had a solid marketing plan, reasonable prices, and more.
Check out our other guides and articles if you want to learn more about these things to sell your home. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us now.