What NOT To Do: Top 5 Viewing Disasters
Congratulations, you have managed to grab the attention of some potential buyers. Now comes the hard part, presenting your home and conducting the viewings. And this is no easy job. The house must be completely immaculate and you have to give off a good impression.
Make your house somewhere where buyers instantly feel they can move in and unpack and don’t let anything get in the way of that during viewings.
Odours
Good luck to those of you who think you can keep a visitor in your house with a putrid stench in the air. No matter what the odour is, even if in your mind it’s a positive one, any strong smell will immediately put off buyers.
Your house may be pristine from top to bottom, freshly painted and beautifully presented, but with a foul smell, you’ll be lucky to get your potential buyers past the entryway.
Creepy Crawlies
If your home has any spiders, webs or other living creatures present – it will give an instant bad impression come across as derelict. Creepy crawlies represent poor house up-keep and a dirty home to most people.
So if you want your buyers to feel at home get out the broom, wipe away the cobwebs and make sure every nook and cranny is clean. They won’t be racing to sign the house contract if they feel they’re going to be entering a house share with the current eight-legged residents!
Yes, this includes any pet snakes or amphibians. Even if they are clean and well-kept so many people are frightened of them it’s best to keep them out of sight.
Mess and Clutter
Of course, all homes have clutter and mess at some point.
Even the cleanest ones tend to have a closet full of toys and all those items you couldn’t place anywhere else. But if your buyers see this mess, they’ll struggle to picture the house as theirs if all your things are practically falling on top of them.
Clear out the clutter and present your home as a fresh canvas, ready to receive them and all their piles of mess.
Evening Viewings
For many, it can prove inconvenient to look at houses during the day and so evening viewings can seem ideal. But will you have the time and the space to do viewings at this time?
If you have kids around or you have evening commitments you need to get to, viewings can be rushed and unorganised.
Feeling rushed or cramped in your house is a massive deterrent. House viewings can take time and require an empty, quiet house, so if you do choose to do an evening viewing, ensure this is a possibility first.
You
You may absolutely adore your home and feel that it is an ideal setting for any person – but that doesn’t necessarily mean everyone else will feel the same way. During house viewings you will come across possible criticism, so it is vital that you treat all comments and questions objectively and politely.
What’s more, it’s important that you give viewers the time and space to look around the house on their own. It can be incredibly off-putting having the homeowner following you constantly – so give buyers the opportunity to explore.
To you, your home may be the ideal setting for any buyer. But you have to present it in a light that everyone can appreciate, not just those with your particular interior tastes. Houses are selling well in the current economic climate, but how fast yours sells is entirely dependent on you. It may require some elbow grease, a tidy up and working out what to say – but you’ll find the results will be more than worth it.
