7 Home-Showing Mistakes Many Sellers Make

When you’re preparing to sell your home in Boston, your real estate agent will talk to you about getting ready for showings – but if you’re like many people, you know it’s all information overload. However, it’s incredibly important that you don’t make the seven home-showing mistakes outlined in this guide.

7 Home-Showing Mistakes Many Sellers Make

Check out the biggest home-showing mistakes many sellers make so you can avoid them:

Neglecting home staging
Ignoring clutter left behind
Skipping out on cleaning
Leaving your pets at home
Forgetting to turn on all the lights
Keeping your valuables in place
Failing to remove prescription medications

Here’s a closer look at each.

Home-Showing Mistake #1: Neglecting Home Staging

Home staging is an important part of selling your home; it’s the act of making your space as appealing as possible to prospective buyers. If you skip out on it, though, you run the risk of buyers failing to see and appreciate your home’s best features.

If you’re not sure what to do about staging, check out:

Home-Showing Mistake #2: Ignoring Clutter Left Behind

When you have a showing, it’s important to clear away all the clutter in your home so that buyers can focus on the property itself. This means putting away things like:

Toys
Papers
Knick-knacks
Personal photos

If you leave clutter lying around, it will make your home appear smaller and less appealing. Your countertops should be clear, bookshelves should be neat as a pin, and kids’ rooms should be spotless (even if it requires you to run around frantically throwing toys in a laundry basket, then throwing the laundry basket in your trunk).

Removing clutter is also about furniture. If you have furnishings that are too large for your space, that interrupt natural walking paths, or that are just too numerous (like eight chairs at a six-seat dining room table), put them in storage until you’ve sold your home.

Home-Showing Mistake #3: Skipping Out on Cleaning

When you have a showing, your home needs to be spotlessly clean. That means:

Cleaning the bathrooms until they sparkle
Wiping down all surfaces
Vacuuming and mopping floors
Doing the dishes
Cleaning out the fridge, pantry, cabinets and drawers (because buyers open all these things)
Scrubbing the baseboards
Dusting everything
Scouring sinks
Washing windows, doors, light switches and other high-touch surfaces

If you don’t have time to clean, hire a professional cleaning service to come in and do it for you. That way, you only need to perform maintenance cleaning while your home is on the market. Many people find that hiring a professional cleaning service is worth the investment, especially when it means a faster sale.

The main idea behind this – and behind decluttering and staging – is that you’re selling an idea. You want to show prospective buyers that your home is easy to keep neat and clean, and that they’ll be able to enjoy a spotless space if they move in, too.

Home-Showing Mistake #4: Leaving Your Pets at Home

Even if your furry family member is the calmest, most well-behaved animal in the world, it’s a good idea to make arrangements for them to stay elsewhere when you have a showing. That way, buyers won’t be distracted by pets, and you don’t have to be concerned about someone having an allergic reaction in your home. Remember, too, that no matter how wonderful your pet is, not all people like animals (and some people are downright terrified of them).

You can take your pet with you when you leave, hire a sitter, or bring them to a pet daycare facility. Don’t leave them outside in the yard; buyers want to explore that space, too, and many won’t if there’s a pet out there.

Finally, remember your pet’s safety. Real estate agents often leave the front door wide open during showings (for their own safety), which means your pet would have an easy way out – and you wouldn’t know until you arrived home long after the showing.

Home-Showing Mistake #5: Forgetting to Turn on All the Lights

Turning on all the lights in your home is one of the simplest things you can do to make it more appealing to buyers – but it’s also one of the most commonly forgotten tasks. In every room, turn on:

Overhead lights
Table lamps
Floor lamps
Any other type of light you have

In addition to making your home appear brighter and more inviting, turning on all the lights will also help buyers see your home in its best light (literally).

Home-Showing Mistake #6: Keeping Your Valuables in Place

When your home is on the market, it’s important to remove all valuables – including jewelry, art, collectibles, and cash. Not only could these items get damaged or stolen during a showing, but they could also be a distraction to buyers (who might spend more time admiring your art collection than inspecting your home).

Do yourself a favor and pack up your valuables before you list your home. Put them into storage, at a friend’s home, or even in a safety deposit box until you move into your next home.

Home-Showing Mistake #7: Failing to Remove Prescription Medications

In addition to valuables, it’s also important to remove any prescription medications from your home before showings. This is for three reasons:

First, you don’t want prospective buyers getting too much information on you through your medicine cabinet. It’s a violation of your privacy, and it could make some people feel uncomfortable.

Second, prescription medications are dangerous if they’re ingested by someone other than the person for whom they were prescribed. Prospective buyers sometimes bring children to tour homes, so keep that in mind.

Finally, you don’t want your prescriptions to disappear. Though it’s nice to think the best of people, the fact is that you don’t know the people who will be touring your home; some people have sticky fingers, particularly when it comes to prescription medications.

If you have prescription medications, put them into a locked box or cabinet. Or, better yet, pack them up and take them with you when you leave.

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7 Home-Showing Mistakes Many Sellers Make