Showings - Listen Up Sellers, Agents

As the market begins to heat up, I have been out with more buyers lately looking at more homes. Overall, I have been pretty impressed, not so much with the homes themselves, as the sellers who go to great pains to make their home presentable and sparkling for my buyers.

It is not easy to have your home for sale and to keep it in tip top shape so that when a showing comes around a quick once over will make it shine-- it is an arduous task. I especially feel for those selling their home who have children. Having a few myself, I can't imagine keeping your home in great shape for showings and dealing with any number of kids. And yet, families make it happen, homes get shown, offers get written and homes sell everyday of the week. The other night I was in a home about 8:15 and there was great smelling, great tasting fresh coffee for us, nice touch, it'd been a long day.

Not every house is staged perfectly and free of clutter and personal mementos, in fact I'd say relatively few have done as much to put their house on the market as their Realtor suggested and even fewer have had any professional staging advice. That's why we have HGTV, right?

That said, I feel for agents who have sellers who won't do even the simplest of tasks prior to a showing. Maybe their agent didn't properly educate them, maybe they just work too much or they're apathetic for one reason or another. It can't be overstated how important it is to have the lights on in your home ahead of time--basement, attic, closets, anywhere a buyer may look or you hope they look, turn on the light for God's sake. It's especially important for evening showings and let's face it, people work during the day so weeknights are very popular showing times. Even if the house if vacant, keep the front porch light on. Sure, I can open the lock box in the dark by rote but I don't want to. I think this weekend the time changes so it'll be less of a big deal but even for safety's sake, always have the porch light on.

A few suggestions to add some pizzaz to showings:

• Touches of Luxury- -Real Plants in beautiful pots, the best linens, white fluffy towels.
• Paint walls-trim-ceilings -- keep adjoining rooms in the same color palette to make the home appear larger and flow better. Don't be sloppy. I was in a home the other day that had been neutralized (though the front door was still lime green) but the god-awful previous color was everywhere around the woodwork in thin little trails where the tape wasn't perfect, yuck. Try to hire professionals.
• Replace mismatched or poor-fitting door handles and cabinet pulls.
• Bamboo is the new maple -- as far as light colored flooring is concerned. Forget parquet and stray from veneer when possible.
• Paint closets a neutral color and buy and install organizers -- Closets need to be lighted and buyers should be able to see the backs of closets and pantries.
• Clean, Organize and Paint basements, attics and garages -- When you're looking for your next home, you'll get it. Don't wait until then, it makes a big, big difference.
• Downsize furniture and family photos. Less is definitely more.
• How about new light switch covers, doormats, mailboxes, miniblinds, etc.

These are pretty easy to figure out ideas, no stunners are among them. But hey, it's free advice Sellers. Buyer or Sellers, Call or email me today!

*the march 2006 Realtor Magazine listed some of these ideas