Selling: 5. Showing Your Home

Be cautious... and informative

As a result of your advertising, you want to direct people to view your home by appointment only. You're going to get calls and emails. People are going to ask a lot of questions that you know they already have the answer to (# of rooms, asking price, etc.). That's OK - this is a big transaction and worth it to both of you to get right.

Phone
Make sure to have some type of voicemail on the contact number you leave for when you're not available. Now is the time to make sure that you have regular access to a fax machine during the days - you're going to need it in the next step. On evenings and weekends, you will get phone calls from buyers driving through the neighborhood and probably parked across the street at that moment. If you have an advertised open house, you'll have several hours on your hands. Unless the home you're selling is vacant and you're not living in it, you probably don't want to consider lockboxes or other seller-not-present methods of showing your home.

Appointments
When showing your home by appointment only, you get some advance warning to do that last minute needed clean up job. Try to give yourself at least an hour or so, minimum, from when you get a call to when you have a buyer come by. Ask for their name and number before agreeing to a showing - then call that number back and/or enter that number on google to make sure it matches up with who they say it does.

When showing your home, be on the cautious side and:

• Require all buyers to sign into a log book with their name, number and address. They'll see others have done the same before them.
• Require a photo ID and look at it. If a buyer doesn't have a photo ID, you probably don't want to proceed
• Never show your home alone. Always have a second person with you.
• Try not to have any valuables in your home (you've already put personal items in storage and valuables in the bank, right?) This includes medicine in the medicine cabinet.
• Try to keep all buyers with you. If there is more than one buyer, keep your eye on all of them!
• While keeping an eye on buyers, stay out of their way as much as possible.
• Do not show your home at night

Remember the rules about clean it and keep it clean, and:

• Now is when your home has to be attractive
• Keep all counters, tables, dressers completely cleaned off
• Make all rooms as light, bright and airy as possible
• Clean up any smudges, scents, etc. Odors in your house are very important
• If you have pets, especially friendly ones, remove them from the house or keep them away from buyers
• Present a welcome but not overwhelming space
• Have printed sales sheets about the home, with pictures, for the buyers to keep
• You should have some printed offers/purchase agreements (see next page)
• If you're offering seller financing, have a sample amendment for that as well as a credit check application form
• Do your best to determine that you have a serious, interested buyer (they should already have financing and be ready to buy). When talking to them, look in their eyes to guage seriousness.
• Above all, make your house memorable, make it stand out from the crowd

Beginning Negotiations
If a buyer likes your home and is seriously interested, they will probably begin to make what appear to be negative comments about it. Understand from the buyer's perspective that this is not mean to be rude or insulting - they are testing the waters to see where they might be able to argue down your asking price. As a responsible seller, you should do everything you can to anticipate well in advance the potential negative points that buyers may raise about the property or area. Figure out what the benefits of each point are, or how you've already included the consideration of each point in your "significantly lower than market price." As you hear these points, first agree with and understand the buyer's point - then counter with a good explanation to address it.

Do not agree verbally to anything other than your asking price. Tell buyers that if they are interested, they need to provide you with a written offer and earnest money. Ask your real estate attorney if you have any questions about this. A buyer's objections raised at their first inspection are a clue to you for what to be ready for in later possible agreement amendments. Firmly tell anyone who appears to be seriously interested that an offer is not an offer until it's in writing and accompanied by earnest deposit.

Open Houses
Procedures for an open house are not significantly different than a "by appointment" showing. If you are in a high traffic location, an open house can be an excellent way to advertise your home to people who might not be reached by any of the other methods. Consider placing (with permission) several directional signs at high traffic locations for your open house, and maybe tie some balloons to the sign. We can provide you with staked, directional open house signs. After the open house, you can replace those signs on the same stakes with "For Sale By Owner" directional signs.

If you see in the paper, or notice signs around your neighborhood that someone nearby is having an open house, that can be an excellent time for you to leverage the traffic that's coming to your neighborhood ready to buy! Place your own signs on the streets and lead people also to your house! If a lot of people show up simultaneously for an open house, you can be overwhelmed and lose that one-on-one rapport that occurs in private, by-appointment showings.