If your home on the market you know that selling a home is a little like living in a fish bowl. You probably feel as if you lost your privacy and your sanctuary has been invaded by people you’ve never met, and sometimes don’t want to. If you’re thinking about putting your home up for sale, be prepared for the invasion of strangers and life under a microscope.
Fact: You Need to Expose Your Home to More Buyers to Sell
The good news is that’s precisely what you intended whether you know it or not. Having your home exposed to the largest number of potential home buyers will produce the highest selling price possible in the shortest period of time.
Tip: Choose a Realtor Who Can Professionally Market Online
Your job is to choose the Realtor who can and will expose your home in the most professional and effective manner. A top-notch Realtor will market you home in the most appropriate media, starting online where people can get an accurate picture of your home without disturbing you. With a well prepared home marketing plan, every feature of your home will be on display. The home buying public will see text, photographs, video, maps and directions. The more information a potential buyer can get before an in person showing, the more qualified buyer they will be when they show up at your door.
How to Minimize Showings to Only Qualified Buyers
But how do you minimize the disruption and discomfort? Getting the most money in the shortest time is all about merchandising. If you think about it as packaging a product instead of selling your “home”, the process gets easier to understand and tolerate. Here are a few simple – highly effective – ideas.
Stage Your Home
Again, think like a merchandiser even though it may be a bit inconvenient. Remember once your home goes up for sale, it is not a reflection on how you live or decorate, but means to get a buyer – hopefully more than one buyer – to take action.
Dress Your Home for Success
It’s show time. Put your best foot forward. You want your home to look its best when the property hits the market. Don’t let anyone see it until it is ready for public display and all the photos are published. Almost all buyers will see your home online before they see it in person. That’s how they cull their list of homes to see. Bad photos will sour a prospective buyer quicker than a hiccup. The good news is it weeds out the casual and the nosy. Don’t miss that first time opportunity to capture the hearts and minds of that eager potential buyer with an incomplete marketing package. Here are some tips to help you prepare for your professional photo shoot.
Strategize and Plan with Your Realtor
Defer and confer with your Realtor regarding the best strategy for your home. Be aware of the normal and customary practices in the area. Do buyers attend open houses? If so, maybe then your first showings start at an open house.
Leave the House During Showings
You do not want to be in the house while a potential buyer and their agent walk are visiting. Buyers won’t linger if you are hovering. They need to absorb the home’s ambiance to make a buying decision. Leave the showing to the professionals.
Be Emotionally Prepared for Questions
People will ask all kinds of questions and make all sorts of comments; they may pry, criticize, even insult – not every time, but when it happens it hurts. Your Realtor will give you advice about how to answer a buyer’s questions. Some of these questions may be termed “buying questions”. Buying questions are a good thing since a disinterested buyer will not take the time to ask questions. When that buyer asks what you how much it costs to heat and cool your home last year, don’t panic. They simply need this information to mentally move forward.
Take a Breath and Relax
There is a fine balance between living “show ready” and having a life. Try to minimize the stress by planning where you will stash things and what your routine will be for showings. It is unlikely that someone will just drop by. Normally, you’ll have ample time to get your home ready for showing and gracefully leave.
Ready to Get Your Home Sold?
Our proven home marketing plan is designed to sell your home faster and for more money than any other plan in Austin. Check out our comprehensive Austin Home Sellers Plan to see all the ways we’re different. Then, call us at (512) 827-8323, email us at info@11OaksRealty.com or fill out our Seller Survey to schedule a no obligation consultation.
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