Understanding how to show your own home will make your overall sales process easier and more successful. There are many things that you can do to make every showing count.
Showings are often considered the most stressful and time-consuming part of your sale. Keep in mind, that regardless of which route you take in selling your property, no agent will prepare and/or clean your property for showings. Since you are representing yourself, you can create a plan that is often more effective and less time consuming than the traditional ways.
Showings can be broken down into two categories, private showings and open house showings. By combining these at the right time, you will decrease your effort and increase your chance of success. Regardless of the type of showing, make sure that your property is clean and shows at its very best, every time a prospect is invited to come view your property.
Private Showings
Often considered to be the most comprehensive, private showings, can also catch you by surprise. Once a buyer views your ad on TradeCasa they may contact you directly to arrange a viewing. You may find yourself not having much time to prepare. Perhaps, you are at work, or have a full schedule that day, either way it is always critical to ensure that your property is clean before you show it. Otherwise you are just wasting your time. Therefore, try to be accommodating to your prospect, but avoid putting yourself in a stressful situation. Be sure to ask them where they are from. If they came from out of town, you may need to offer more flexibility, but if they are local perhaps a showing in a day or two will be sufficient. Your goal is to show a clean home within a reasonable period of time. Here are a few more tips to consider during a private showing.
Clean and Stage the property, make sure that it shows at its best. Turn on all the lights, open up all the blinds to let the natural light in, and ensure the property is free from unpleasant smells.
Take care of your pets, larger animals such as dogs may be intimidating to your prospects, while cats or other smaller pets can signal allergies. It is best to remove your pets from the property during showings or find a safe place for them for that time.
Put your valuables away, such as jewelry or smaller valuable items. As the old saying goes, out of sight out of mind.
Provide a feature sheet, of the property only after they have completed the tour. Allow your prospects to focus on the walk through, rather than be distracted with a hand out. This will allow you to explain all the features as you take them through. Use the hand out generator in your TradeCasa account to print out the most recent showcase.
Use a sign in sheet, to collect the relevant information about your prospect. This will allow you to follow up with your potential buyer at a later time. A sign in sheet is available for you to print out in your TradeCasa account
Give them a guided tour, by taking them through the home. Be sure to point out all the features that you enjoyed, recent upgrades and inclusions. Open up the closets as you walk through, some buyers may be intimidated to do so.
Let them look around, on their own once you give them the tour. his allows your potential buyer to have a better look at the property. The longer they stay, the more interested they become.
Create a call to action, the most important part of the showing! Be sure to let your potential buyer know what the next steps may be. Direct them to the "propose an offer" tool in your TradeCasa online showcase. This is a great way to get the ball rolling, as it is not intimidating or binding, and is very simple to use. Also, offer them the opportunity to come back a second time if they wish.
Open Houses
This is by far the most effective way to show your property. You can clean it once and show it to multiple prospects, all within a matter of hours. Open houses are also a great way to get more people through your home. Often, there is a greater sense of urgency to purchase due to a larger presence of interested prospects present at the same time. Open houses can be done at your convenience, however, to benefit most they should be done on Saturdays or Sundays anywhere between 1-4 pm. Sunday 2-4 pm is the most common time. Consider hosting an open house every 2 weeks. Here are a few more steps to follow, although, many are similar to a private showing there are some differences.
Put out your open house signs, directing people to your open house. You should have at least 3 to 4 signs, installed on busy street corners directing people to your property. Place 1 sign right in front of your property. You may set them out, shortly before the open house, and take them down immediately after the open house.
Provide a hand out of the property right at the door. This is critical for the prospects, as many will have very little information about the property. In most cases they just happened to be in the area, and that is great! However, it is important that they get all the information right at the door. Most importantly, open house prospects are likely to see many properties that day, it is important that they have tangible information on your property so they can recall the showing. Use the feature sheet tool in your account to print out your most recent showcase.
Provide guided tours on demand, you may not be able to give everyone a personal guided tour. Often, you will have more than one prospect at once. Therefore, it is important to let them know that you are available if required.
Remove your vehicles, ensure that you have ample parking for your visitors. On a good day you may have as many as 4 prospects at once. Parking space will be in demand.
Clean and Stage the property, make sure that it shows at its best. Turn on all the lights, open up all the blinds to let the natural light in, and ensure the property is free from unpleasant smells.
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