03 Feb 5 Ways to Showcase Your Home for Successful Showings
The old saying “quality over quantity” applies to Real Estate too. Having many showings on your home is great but having successful showings is more important. A dozen window shoppers don’t mean much compared to one actual buyer. I have 5 tips to help you make the best impression and create successful showings.
Focus Your Energy
Completely over-hauling every room will drain you and is not a useful way to spend your time and energy. Focus on the main level and common areas of your home. These are where people spend the majority of their time. I cannot stress how important a first impression is. The moment someone walks through your door affects how that person will experience your home. There are two steps that are essential to maximizing the quality of showings.
Funny enough, the first is your front yard. You don’t need to go overboard, but clear snow and ice or keep the grass trimmed and weeds to a minimum. The next step, that’s just as important, is the entryway. The first step into your home will define their impression, so long as the buyer has not already slipped on ice walking in. Try walking into your home and ask yourself “What is the first thing I notice about this room? What does my house feel like when I enter?”. Buyers already know the logistics. They know the price of your home, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and so on. When they are at your home is when it’s important to appeal to their emotional side. People would not visit homes before buying if they were not concerned with how it feels in your home.
Be Neat
Psychologically, neatly organized spaces feel good to humans. I know many people, myself included, that operate well with a little mess and chaos. This is fine and natural, but it doesn’t change that your house needs to be neat and tidy. Focus on stacks and piles. Stacks of mail or magazines shoved in a corner should be put in a drawer or out of sight. Piles of laundry need to be in a laundry basket and placed in a closet. Stacks of books haphazardly strewn around your living room should be orderly arranged on a shelf. Piles of shoes need to be lined up neatly in a closet or placed in a show organizer. No one is expecting a 5-star hotel level of clean and orderly. Your home should look lived in but try to make it look like right after spring cleaning and a few trips to goodwill.
Clear Clutter
When a buyer is looking at your house, they want to imagine themselves living there. Clearing clutter is like erasing half your home’s biography. This leaves room for the buyer to fill in their own ideas. Take this opportunity to declutter, not only for more successful showings but for your own benefit too. Organizing your personal items, that are currently not in use, and boxing them up helps with showings and getting a jump start on packing. Buyers will be more appreciative of seeing boxes stacked in your garage rather than seeing the clutter throughout your home.
Stage Rooms
This is another part of helping a buyer imagine themselves in your home. Staging rooms to feel open and functional showcases the best use of space. It highlights the available square footage and shows how comfortable and easy it could be living in your home. These are two staging techniques that warranted their own section.
Rearrange or remove some furniture by packing it away or even making a trip to your local donation center. Achieve an open feeling concept with less furniture will help the buyer’s imagination. If a showing is during the day, keep your blinds open to let in as much natural light as possible. Most people are drawn to bright open spaces. Another subtle thing to try is throw-pillows and blankets. Before you disregard these tips, think about home magazines. Nearly every photo will incorporate these tips so people associate them with a comfortable home. When staging you are aiming to create a functional space with a lived-in feeling all while staying neat and clutter-free.
Be Available and Attentive
Now that we’ve covered quality we can look at the quantity, which is also very important. Showing requests come in at all times. Agents are using any spare moment here and there to set up showings. Prompt replies can be the difference between getting your house seen or not. We typically use texts to request showings or other options based on your preference. The best thing you can do is respond promptly! If you wait too long agents may cancel the request and look elsewhere. Additionally, agents will try squeezing in another house last minute because they either got denied or didn’t receive a response from another property. A quick reply is even more essential in these cases.
This is often a problem if you have children, have pets, work from home, or you are simply a homebody sort of person. It can be hard and taxing making your home available for showings. The most common times for showings are weeknights and weekends. A productive way to leave your home open for showings is to use that time to look at homes yourself and explore a new neighborhood. These tips will create quality showings that lead to meaningful results. Getting buyers to the door is about the facts of your home. Getting them wanting to stay is about the feeling of your home.
Learn more about listing your home by reading some of my other blog posts. I especially recommend the decluttering guide.
1. What to Ask Yourself When Decluttering
2. Your House Didn’t Sell? 4 Factors To Consider Before Reselling
3. 7 Super-Sized Home Updates Buyers Expect
If you have any questions, please let me know, I’m always happy to help. You can give me a call at 612-889-6496 or send an email to [email protected].
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