Avoid These 3 Common Mistakes When Showing Your Home For Sale

Selling your home can be hard. Especially when it’s your first time going through the process. It seems there is always a list of questions to ask your agent and a mountain of tasks to do on your home. And on top of everything else, you need to keep your home clean for showings and still go to work and manage your family. Yikes! That’s a lot to take on!

In the midst of all of the home-selling madness, we want to make sure that you putting your energy in the right place. After all, who wants to worry about things that don’t really matter? Use the list below and avoid the 3 most common mistakes when it comes to showing your home for sale.

Mistake #1: A Dark and Dingy Showing

One of the most important things you can do, is focus your energy on creating a happy environment for potential homeowners to walk into. Try to make your home as bright and inviting as you possibly can. Think about… would you like to walk into a home for the first time and have it be dark? It wouldn’t feel very welcoming would it?

Steps to Prepare Your Home:

• Open up all your curtains and shades on the day of your showing
• Turn on all rooms that have poor lighting
• If it is raining and dark when you leave for the showing, turn all lights on in the house
• If your kitchen or any built ins have accent lights, turn them on
• If you showing is in the evening, turn on your garage lights and porch lights
• If you have dark paint on your walls, you may want to paint them a lighter shade of white

Taking these extra steps to lighten up your home, will welcome potential home owners in.

Mistake #2: Strong Odors Throughout Your Home

One of the biggest turn-offs potential home buyers complain about is unfriendly smells in homes. There is no way to ignore the smell of animals when you are walking through an open house. You should take every step necessary to make your home smell as neutral as possible.

Steps to Prepare Your Home

• If you are a smoker or have pets, you should have your carpets cleaned
• If you have a cat, be sure to scoop the kitty litter before each showing
• Empty your trash cans before each showing
• If you have a baby, empty your diaper disposal units
• Avoid cooking with potent spices one day before your showing. Smells like garlic and hard boiled eggs linger long after they are cooked
• Plug in air fresheners or leave a candle lit in your kitchen

Be sure that you take the time to worry about how your house might smell! We promise that neutralizing odors will have a major positive benefit for your showings.

Mistake #3: Ignoring Small Fixes

A lot of people ignore small blemishes in their home. After living there for so long, these small imperfections tend to be things that we don’t even see. But, trust us, all of the little fixes that you don’t remedy will be seen by potential home owners. Before your showing, it is a good idea to make a list of these fixes and have them fixed. Consider the list below of potential easy fixes that will make big improvements.

Steps to Prepare Your Home

• Do you have matching light switch and electricity covers?
• Do you need to patch walls where pictures once hung?
• Do you have any tears or stains in your carpet?
• Does any paint need to be touched up?
• Do any stairs creak? Floor boards creak? Doors and windows not open properly?

The reality is that when someone is looking at your home, all of these little things add to big problems. So, be sure that you pre-empt any complaints potential home buyers may see in your home.

Selling your home can be a stressful time, but we hope that we were able to make it just a little easier by letting you in on these three common mistakes. If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.

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