Conducting viewings on your property – Dos and Don’ts

Conducting viewings on your property – Dos and Don’ts

The first-time potential buyers view your house can be a make or break moment. Because of this it can be a daunting experience – if you are worried about showing potential buyers around your home speak to your agent who will strive to arrange the viewings with a company representative – another good reason to choose a local agent rather than an online estate agent.

Showing potential buyers around your home is an opportunity to impress potential buyers and demonstrate the appeal of the property. It is important to create a good impression. Here’s some of the tips we’ve learnt in our experience to ensure a successful viewing.

Clean and declutter

You want your viewers to be able to imagine themselves living in the property. Picturing themselves, and their furniture, in the house will be much harder if the rooms are filled with your possessions. Try to move anything that isn’t essential into storage, or into a basement or outbuilding if you have it. This will also make your house look more spacious.

It should go without saying that the house should be as clean as possible for viewings. Clean and polish surfaces, especially in the kitchen and bathrooms. This includes the sink and draining area – make sure the washing up is done before your potential buyers come around!

Create a neutral environment

For a similar reason, you also want to keep family photos to a minimum. The buyer needs to envisage themselves living there and make an emotional connection. Constant reminders of someone else’s family don’t help this. Try to replace them with less personal items or seasonal photos which show the property to good advantage.

Fresh air

Even if the rest of the house is immaculate, a strong smell can put viewers off.

Everyday smells that you may not notice may be immediately apparent to prospective buyers who aren’t used to them. Few things are more off-putting to most buyers than a strong smell of cigarette smoke, or of a wet dog. The same goes for strong cooking smells, even if they would conventionally be inoffensive.

A common tactic to mask these is to spray deodoriser or fragrance throughout the house. However, potential buyers may be allergic to certain scents, or may find them not to their taste. Your safest option is to simply open the windows to allow fresh air in.

Know the details

It is useful for any property guarantees; for example, documentation relating to heating, plumbing, wiring, building and roofing to be available at the time of the viewing, whether you or your agent are present other documents like utility bills and Council Tax may be beneficial.

If you take your own viewings make sure you are knowledgeable about the local area. Even if things like school catchment and public transport links aren’t important to you, they could be to your buyer.

The more information you have on hand, the better.

Make a good first impression

When it comes to actually showing your property, start and finish the tour in the most impressive area. First impressions matter and getting off to a good start is important to any successful viewing.

Finishing the tour in the same area will help reinforce this and create a positive lasting impression.

Give your viewers space

It can be tempting to follow your potential buyers around the tour to be able to give further information, don’t. Give them a chance to explore the house at their leisure and discuss it freely. If you’ve prepared your house properly then you have nothing to worry about.

Although conducting viewings yourself may seem a lot of pressure, following these tips can make the process easier and smoother. If you don’t feel comfortable doing viewings yourself, your agent should always be happy to carry them out on your behalf.

Just remember that a potential buyer needs to feel relaxed and at home. Don’t try and oversell, just be welcoming and create a relaxed atmosphere.

Seddon’s are more than happy to assist with any of the points raised within this newsletter, if you would like to discuss this aspect of selling or to arrange a free property consultation, please get in touch with your local Seddons branch.

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