After deciding to list, stop thinking of your house as your home.
A professional home stager forces you to look at your home from the eyes of a highly critical buyer which is key to selling quickly and for top dollar. If your home is staged well, it will likely contain far fewer items than you are used to having. Gone are the 10 gadgets from your kitchen counter and that table you used to bump into in the foyer. Your bed might be on a different wall and your sports gear is hiding in the trunk of your car.
Put your mind on your next home instead of staying attached to the current one.
Once you get into the “real estate listing mindset” as I like to call it, it’s easier to emotionally detach from your home and its contents. This will help you give away all that clutter you no longer need and keep your house in showing-ready condition. It’s a real estate listing now, and you may have to “evacuate” at any time of the day for showings.
If there’s a showing in your home, the buyer’s real estate agent is supposed to accompany the buyer as they wander through your home.
Some home sellers insist that their own agent be present during all showings. I don’t recommend this as it makes it much more difficult for real estate agents to book appointments and you really don’t want to make it inconvenient for them to show your home.
I’ve purchased many properties over the years, and I can tell you from personal experience that if it was tough to get a showing appointment, I just turned my interest to the next listing in my price range and didn’t bother looking back.
While you may be discouraged from having a public open house because of all the strangers coming through (or an agent who says they aren’t effective, perhaps because they were hoping for a weekend off), it IS an effective way to sell a property in many real estate markets. I’ve personally bought 2 homes (each with a three week close) that I’ve discovered by going to an open house.
For safety reasons though, remember that if there’s an open house, there is very little control and actual supervision going on— especially if you have an attractive property in a sought after location. While visitors are supposed to sign in (which is more of a lead generation tool for the hosting agent), visitors can use any name they choose and that still doesn’t mean anyone is accompanying them as they peruse your home.
Make sure you follow my 5 real estate safety tips when you’re home is on the market to help protect your family while your home is getting so much attention from strangers.
Learn more about how Six Elements can help you with home staging advice and real estate advice.
Have you encountered any difficulties with showings or open houses when your home was on the real estate market? Please share your comments below.
Debra Gould, President Six Elements Inc.
Internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould is President of Six Elements Inc. and creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. An entrepreneur for 20 years and author of several guides, Debra has staged millions of dollars worth of real estate and uses her expertise to train others worldwide.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I appreciate your post, I am really into staging all my listings. Just last night I walked through a new listing with clients (first time sellers) and gave them the low down as to what to pack and not pack up.
The only thing I disagree with is the open house factor, as an agent I have done hundreds of them and never once sold the house I was open housing.
90% of buyers are looking online and that is where they see the house of their dreams. Our job as a real estate agent is to showcase the home in the best potential light, to get potential buyers into the house, along with staging a home and great photos, this is the best way to market a home.
Calgary Realtor, thanks for sharing your comments! It’s great to meet an agent who embraces the power of home staging.
As for open houses, I guess it varies by market. I’ve personally bought 2 houses after seeing them on an open house, and also found an agent I hired for a listing by meeting her at her open house.
I really like your analogy of turning a sellers mindset to “listing” instead of “home”. Makes perfect sense to help a seller “move-on” and get ready to “move-out” by staging. Thanks for your expert help and advice…Teri
Thanks Teri. It IS so important for the seller to emotionally let go of the house they’re trying to sell.
Debra