Take the Stress Out Of Showing Your Home With These Tips

Posted by Justin Havre on Monday, February 25th, 2019 at 10:19am.

How to Prepare Your Home for a Home Showing Your real estate agent gives you a call to let you know that he'll be arriving for a showing in less than an hour. Your house is in a shambles from top to bottom but you don't want to cancel the viewing. You run through the house to make it presentable and have pull it off at the last minute. You decide that you never want to do this again and want to be better prepared for the next showings. Here are 3 tips that you can use to help keep your home in shape and always ready for visitors.

For informational purposes only. Always consult with a licensed real estate professional before proceeding with any real estate transaction.

Always Be Prepared

Have the basic assumption planted in your mind that you're going to have a showing daily. This way, you'll never be afraid of the phone ringing and will welcome the chance to show your home to a prospective buyer.

Use A Showing Checklist

Create a checklist that you can use to keep your home looking its best. If you have children, give them a list of activities that they must do every day to keep the house looking tidy. You and any other adults in the home should also have these checklists available. It will remind you to do keep the dishes caught up, always have the beds made and to keep items from building up on the coffee table.

Have A Few Trial Runs

Make this into a game with your kids much like you would with a fire escape drill. Let your kids know that when you shout out the word, "Visitors!" that they have to run into high gear and get the house looking great in 10 minutes. Call out this word a few times with excitement and watch your kids spring into action! Then, when the real thing does happen, they'll be ready to get into gear at full speed in order to have the house looking fantastic by the time the doorbell rings.

Know How to Quickly Prepare For a Showing

With so many homes for sale in the Calgary Real Estate market your first impressions count. Obviously, your home should look its best when potential buyers arrive. However, time is not always on your side. There may be times when you have only a few minutes to get things ready. What you do with those minutes can mean the difference between an interested buyer... and one who crosses your home off the list. Here are some things you can do to help your home look its best in just five minutes or less:

Put away coats, hats, and shoes. Clean up, especially around the foyer. You don't want clutter to be the first thing a buyer sees.
Turn on all lights and lamps. A home that is bright looks larger.
Put on some soft music. Easy listening is the best choice.
Don't play rock or jazz music because some people might dislike it. Think elevator music.
Make sure the toilet lids are down. Even when a washroom is sparkling clean, a raised toilet seat gives the impression – however incorrectly – that things are less than hygienic.
Relocate the pets. Put pets in the backyard or basement, or at least segregate them in a separate room. Better still, take them away from your home entirely.
Close the garage doors. Most garages don't look great on the inside.
Hide the waste bins. Keep them out of site.
Wash the dishes. If possible, don't leave them on a drying rack. Put them away.
Put away personal items. Put family pictures, bills, and other personally identifying information away. You want the buyers to visualize themselves living in your home, not you.
Open all curtains and blinds. This makes rooms look bigger and brighter, even at night.

A good showing and first impression will help you get top dollar for your home. Put a little effort into presenting your home to the best of it's ability and you may also cut down the time it takes for your home to sell.

Prepare Your Calgary Home For a Viewing Today

It can be extremely difficult to keep your house looking 100% all of the time - especially when you have kids or pets. Do your best to implement some of the above strategies. You'll see results! You never know when the next knock on the door will be the future buyer of your home.