Preparing Your Home for Showing

Article By John P. Smith, Dreams by Owner Marketing Consultant

First impressions count! Once your prospective homebuyer walks up the driveway and crosses the threshold of your door, they know if they like your home. Your goal is to 1) give them something to like, and 2) make them like it enough to make an offer. Ideally, if you can get several people to like it and make offers, that gives you a great advantage when negotiating the sale.

When preparing your home for sale, take into consideration the condition of the home on all five of the senses: Sight, Hearing, Smell, Touch, and Taste. When a potential buyer pulls into the driveway, what do they see? The kids’ toys scattered on the lawn, or a nicely maintained and decorated home?

For a start on how you can spruce up the house, stand out in the street and get a perspective of what your potential buyer sees first. Write down a “to do” list on a notepad. Be critical; don’t overlook the things you have ignored for years. How is the lawn? Getting the lawn in shape may just take some weed killer grass seed and watering. Take a good look at the landscaping. If the plants are scraggly and dying, revive them, or remove them. You can also add some color by planting some bright annual flowers. These are things that you can do cheaply without breaking the bank.

Next, enter the house and stand in the doorway. When you walk in what do you see? Is there clutter? Are there cobwebs? Is the storm door broken and squeaky? How does it smell? Since we live in our houses, we grow used to the smell. You may need to find someone you trust who will be willing to tell you the truth about how your house smells. This is especially important if you have pets or smoke.

Take these principles and walk through the rest of the house. What will the buyer see when they first walk into a room? What will they hear? What do the surfaces feel like? Are counters and doorknobs sticky to the touch? Then take the time to clean or fix what needs to be addressed.

In your last minute preparations, light scented candles several places throughout the house. Smell is a powerful way to evoke a sense of comfort and a feeling that this is “home”. If you have a fireplace, light a small fire in the fireplace, or as an alternative, set a few lit candles in the fireplace to help create a soothing cozy feel. Keep a tube of ready to cook cookie dough to bake fresh cookies and set them out for your buyers to taste. With these added elegant touches, your prospective buyers will be sure to enjoy their tour.

Case Study: The first time I was in the market for a home, I viewed a small townhouse that had been on the market longer than average. When I first stepped into the house all I could see was clutter from one end of the house to the other. From the doorway you could see the cat’s litter box in the middle of the living room floor, and had the smell to go with it. Clothes were draped over the exercise bicycle, and there was barely enough room to walk. In touring the house I found dirty dishes in the sink with food stuck on them and a rotting apple core on the counter. When I looked beyond the filth and clutter I could tell that the house was in sound physical condition. In other words, the house was fine; it was just filthy. The other prospective buyers saw the filth and voted with their feet because they could not look past the filth. I ended up buying this house for 20% less than identical houses, all because it was dirty and cluttered. The day I closed on the house, the house was empty, vacuumed and cleaned before I got there. This house now looked just as good as the other houses that were selling for much more. This seller lost money not because the house was inferior, but because the house was extremely filthy when it was shown.