When you show your home, you’re trying to present it in the best possible light so buyers will be able to imagine themselves living there and be eager to buy it. Since buying a home can be a decision based more on feeling than on logic, try to make your home appealing to potential buyers by engaging all five senses.
Why are showings such an important part of the selling process? Showings give potential buyers an opportunity to see and fully experience your home in person. And that’s why you have to make sure you’ve presented it in the best light possible: to allow buyers to envision your house as their home and imagine living there. The problem, though, is that it’s too easy to go overboard and unnecessarily complicate matters. So let’s see how to simplify showing your home in Shoreline, WA while still making it an effective selling tool.
Clean and Declutter
Before you open your doors for an open house or a showing, be sure to clean your home from top to bottom. It’s cheaper to do the work yourself, especially since you’ll want to keep the house in tip-top shape for as long as you have it on the market, but hiring a cleaning company can take the load off if there’s too much on your plate.
The first step toward simplifying showing your home in Shoreline, WA always remains the same. And that is to clean thoroughly and declutter ruthlessly.
“Before you open your doors for an open house or a showing, be sure to clean your home from top to bottom. It’s cheaper to do the work yourself, especially since you’ll want to keep the house in tip-top shape for as long as you have it on the market, but hiring a cleaning company can take the load off if there’s too much on your plate.”
Be sure to take care of the following areas when it comes to cleaning for a showing:
- Ceilings, ceiling-fan blades, and light fixtures – Get rid of all the dust and cobwebs as well as the dead bugs that always collect in light fixtures.
- Walls – Scrub dirt, handprints, and children’s artwork off walls and repaint where needed.
- Floors – Make sure floors are clean and sparkling, which typically means steam cleaning carpets and washing/waxing non-carpeted areas.
Then, clear out all the clutter. “The first thing your buyers should see when they walk in the front door should not be piles of papers or possessions. Leave tabletops, counters, and other flat surfaces clear or tastefully styled (with a vase of flowers, perhaps).”
Then Do More
But don’t stop there in your preparations for showing your home. Be sure to hide cords and remove personal items.
It seems like a small thing, and that’s why it’s often overlooked. But hiding cords can contribute greatly to the visual appeal for showing your home in Shoreline, WA, and it can also reduce tripping hazards. So get all of those device and charger cords out of sight or at least out of the way. Unplug and put away all non-essential chargers, and then bundle together remaining cords and route them behind entertainment centers, desks, or chairs.
Also, put away all personal items in order to remove your personality from the home to allow buyers to imagine it as their own space with their belongings and personal items in place. The simpler and less personal décor, the more likely you are to achieve the necessary blank-palette effect.
Improve Traffic Flow
One thing that can greatly simplify showing your home in Shoreline, WA is improving the traffic flow. You don’t want buyers to have any impediments or bottlenecks when walking through your home.
Keep in mind that you’ve lived in the home a long while and have become desensitized to poor traffic flow, having grown accustomed to just walking around anything in the way. So you need to tour your home with a critical eye. According to industry pros, you should “walk through each room and determine if the furniture arrangement contributes to a comfortable flow and use of space, or if it simply is that way because that’s how it has always been.”
Make It Comfortable
Your goal is to create a welcoming atmosphere, so pay attention to your climate systems. A cold house on a cold day, or a stuffy house on a hot day, won’t paint the picture you want buyers to see—it’ll leave them uncomfortable, not to mention wondering whether your heating or cooling systems are in disrepair. You should also make your home comfortable, especially with respect to temperature. This will go a long way toward simplifying showing your home because it will make it so much easier to get buyers to linger longer.
“Your goal,” experts say, “is to create a welcoming atmosphere, so pay attention to your climate systems. A cold house on a cold day or a stuffy house on a hot day won’t paint the picture you want buyers to see – it’ll leave them uncomfortable, not to mention wondering if your heating or cooling systems are in disrepair.”
This is not the time to worry about utility bills. Crank up the AC when it’s hot and the heat when it’s cold.
Be Flexible and Accommodating
One of the best things you can do to simplify showing your home is also easy, though perhaps slightly inconvenient. And that is to be flexible and accommodating. If buyers can’t come and view your home when they want, it just makes everything more difficult for you and your agent (not to mention the buyers).
Buyers have to work and they will likely be viewing multiple properties, so they often won’t be able to view your home on the most convenient day or time of day. So try to be as flexible and accommodating as possible. Remember: when you miss out on a showing, you’ve missed out on a potential sale.
Your Shoreline, WA agent will have several strategies to facilitate this flexibility. To discover more about this, just call (206) 578-3438.
Consider Going Away
Your presence when showing your home will, more often than not, just complicate matters and make buyers uncomfortable. Here’s why and what the pros recommend . . .
“You will be tempted to follow the buyers and explain upgrades, amenities, or features. Don’t do it. The buyer won’t talk about the house in front of you or open doors with you standing there. You and your family should go for a drive, get a coffee, visit the park – just get out of the house so your potential buyer can relax and evaluate.”
Lean on Your Agent for Showing Your Home
Feedback from visitors can be extremely helpful when trying to sell a home, especially if they let you know something that would be an easy change before the next buyer stops by.
These are indeed some good strategies to make showing your home both more effective and simpler. Still, there’s much more you can do. And that’s where your Shoreline, WA agent can be an invaluable asset. So if you want to increase your chances of selling while simplifying showing your Shoreline, WA home, contact us today at (206) 578-3438.
