Tips for viewings

[Grimalkin]

After 3 months of having the house on the market we finally have a viewing!!! 

Aside from the obvious tidying does anyone have any top tips for showing off the house when prospective buyers come round?

[Robinia]

Obviously you will have scrubbed & polished until you ache (don't forget the outside of your front door!) but I'd say it's very important to smile & look happy to be living there.  Make the people welcome, offer them a drink (not alcohol!) - if you make them feel relaxed & happy they'll remember that feeling & associate it with your house.  Have some nice music playing quietly in the background downstairs. Good Luck!

[woofgang]

Make sure that the front door, path etc is immaculately clean and welcoming. The fresh coffee or hot bread thing works. Try and sandwich the more iffy aspects in between the good ones, so you begin and end with an excellent impression. Keep the kids and pets out of the way. Make sure that everywhere is as bright and airy as possible. At one time I would have said let the viewers have a look around on their own once you have shown them around but these days I wouldn't do that!!

If they ask you why you are moving, don't say the house is too big/small noisy/ in a poor school catchment area etc btw this is one of the reasons for keeping the kids out of the way so the little darlings don't comment for example that you have put a chair over the stain where pussy poohed.

Then relax and smile....good luck

[khana]

Good luck with the viewing, I hope it goes well.

I would say the most important thing is to de-clutter the place thoroughly, you want to make sure that the people viewing are not distracted by all your personal effects. Of course its important that you do not go over the top, it is your home and should reflect that someone lives there.

Its a lot of hard work decluttering, but its something you have to do before you leave anyway and besides you dont want to give the impression that things are crammed in as the house is to small.

[cheekidee]

When selling my last house I always made appointments for the viewers to look round when the sun was shining into my bathroom, this also lit up the landing which made the upstairs more inviting.  So invite prospective buyers when your house looks its best, other times are not convenient.  I had a special towel which I kept clean ready to display in the bathroom.  You know your own house much better than the estate agents so do as I did show them around pointing out all the benefits of the house allowing them to enter the rooms first, this way the rooms seem bigger to them.  In the kitchen I would bake cakes and have these in a see through container.  I sold my house without the estate agent in the end.  When it was on their books  the agent just said to buyers that I would show them round as I was better able at explain the good points than he could.  Good Luck

[curiosity]

Fresh flowers always look nice, apart from creating a very attractive focus in a maybe otherwise non descript place it symbolizes that you care, and maintain things. Good Luck

[Oneeyedvic]

Be careful with the coffee smells - I know 3 people who loathe this smell.

I would always let people look around by themselves - i wouldn't consider buying a place if the owners kept following me about.

Always make sure they go into the room first - it makes the room bigger.

Declutter as much as possible - its amazing how little imagination people have. In one house we had some heavy shelving which made the room look small - one viewer thought you couldn't put a single bed in there where as a double fit in easily!

Have a friend come round and see what they spot - it is always diffcult to spot things if you are living on top of it. eg they may smell your dog, which you can't smell.

Most important - if you smoke - make sure you don't light up inside for a few days prior to viewing - this is the biggest turn off for any prospective buyer.

Good luck - and make sure you get feedback from estate agent.

[lady_p_gold]

You need to be a bit of a salesperson .. judge the people coming round - are they young with kids .. mention the schools and how good they are and how there are several children nearby (there are bound to be some hopefully)  If they seem older and quieter you can talk up the more quiet aspects of the neighbourhood.  I always say something like 'we have been happy here' etc.   You must not lie of course but what I am saying is think of the psychological aspects of the sale and try to get a handle on what they are in fact looking for and emphasise the positive things that fit in with their requirements..  If there is anything glaringly negative you can turn it into a positive i.e. 'well we did worry a bit about the parking but the area is so nice it soon made up for it and of course that made this property more affordable etc.'    Good luck !

[Grimalkin]

Thank you all for your tips!  I'm very tired this morning after spending last night moving a huge desk/bookshelves/computer into a different room to open up the second bedroom - lots of spiders chased out in the process...probably for the best.  Flowers brightening up the hall and lounge, front of house spruced up, and fingers crossed the sun will come out before they arrive...

[jno]

woofgang is right... Me: trying to persuade people to buy house. Small son: 'Are you going to show them the damp?'

So put the kids in an orphanage for a while.