In this month’s blog, we’re looking at some top tips for sellers to prepare for a viewing.
First and foremost, we’d say first impressions count! Try your best to make sure the house reflects photos that potential buyers have seen. Amongst other things, they’ve chosen to view your home based on the photos. We understand a family home Is often busy and lived in, so can’t look like a show home all the time, but getting things as close to the photos as possible is great!
Viewers will often make a decision on a home based on emotion over logic. We’ve known some people to decide against a home just because it doesn’t feel right. So making sure your home smells good, is presented in the best way and is bright and inviting! Pop all the lights on and keep the blinds open for as much natural light as possible.
During winter time especially, heating makes a huge difference! From experience, a cold house is a very uninviting one! It’s quite difficult to concentrate on the other lovely features of the home when you’re cold. So create a cosy feeling and pop the heating on, even if it’s just for a little while before the viewing!
It’s a great idea to consider any potential difficulties viewers might have. If your road is notoriously busy for parking, try and leave your driveway empty so that the visitors can have that parking spot. It’s also a good idea to have a sale board in front of the home to help locate the property easier. The less stressful the travel and locating the property is, the better tone that’s set for the viewing itself.
You could increase the kerb appeal too! Make sure the grass is mown and the weeds are tackled. It might be nice to even add a plant pot or a hanging basket with some colourful flowers!
Now we love your furry friends and we know how much you love them too! However, some people aren’t as much of a fan of pets as we are (I know, crazy right!) so it might be a good idea to let us know if there will be any pets In the house so that we can pre warn visitors in case there are any fears or allergies etc. Maybe pop out with the dog for a walk during the viewing! And most importantly, make sure any potentially smelly bowls or cat litter trays are hidden! If you’re out at work for the day and we’re due to carry out the viewing, we’re more than happy to help with this! We can briefly hide things away for you and make sure they’re put back again at the end.
Make sure the agent knows all the extra selling features of your home. If you’re working with AKS already, you’ll know we put together a fact sheet of answers to FAQ’s and any extra features such as underfloor heating, electric garage doors, new boilers etc. This is really useful to know and can help with providing extra bonus reasons for someone to choose your home over another.
Finally, trust us to do your viewings for you! We’ve written a full blog on this previously which you can find in the blogs section of our website, but we think it’s an important one to briefly mention again! Viewers are more comfortable and honest when the agent carries out the viewing. They’ll share opinions and ideas which they wouldn’t normally do with the sellers present. There are no distractions, awkward direct questions and it’s more convenient for you too!
We hope you’ve enjoyed this article and thankyou for reading!
