You've worked hard to make your home look good. Now, when an agent calls and would like
to show your home, you'll need just a few last-minute touches. Read through them now, and
practice doing them at least once.
___1) Open drapes and window shades.
___2) Open all doors between rooms, to give an inviting feeling.
___3) Turn on all the lights, including the lamps.
___4) Turn off the TV.
___5) Tune the radio to some quiet "elevator-style" music. (Write the
station's
number here, for future reference: __________ FM/AM)
___6) Look around for clutter, including newspapers and magazines
and clear it away.
___7) See that the kitchen counters are free of unnecessary items and that
any dirty dishes are put away.
___8) Don't forget to take out the trash.
___9) If you have pets, get them out of the way and take care of their food
and/or litter area.
___10) Get beds made and clothes picked up.
___11) Make sure bathrooms are clean, with towels folded and the toilet lid down.
___12) Make the house smell good! Bowls of potpourri in some of the rooms and/or
something good cooking in the oven (bread is always good) may be the extra
incentive your prospective buyer needs to choose your home.
___13) If it's fireplace season (and you're staying home), light the fire.
___14) Be sure to leave fact sheets on the home where visitors will be sure to see
them.
Whenever you leave the house in the morning or during the day, please leave it as if
you're
sure it is going to be shown. Yes, it's difficult sometimes and might even mean you
have to get up a little earlier in order to take care of these important items. But you
never know when the right people are going to look at your home, so you must always be
ready for them.
Final Note
Please cooperate with all agents when they call for an appointment. Sometimes it will
be inconvenient for you to have the house shown, but you may never get another opportunity
for those particular people to look at it again.
And besides that, an agent may feel that if the property is difficult to show because
of restrictions you have placed on it, It may not be worth the trouble. We need all the
help we can get, so we don't want to alienate even one agent.
If you haven't agreed to it yet, you really should consider having a lockbox on the
property. It will make your home much easier to show, which will increase its
marketability.
