Home Sellers: 11 Great Tips for Showing Your Home

In order to sell your home quickly, and for the best price, here is a list of things to address BEFORE your agent brings that first potential buyer to look at it.

1. Make sure the lawn is mowed, the shrubs are trimmed, and the porch is clean and free of clutter. If it’s fall, rake up the leaves. If it’s winter, keep the walkways clear. Make sure the front door is either freshly painted or well-scrubbed. It’s all part of creating a positive first impression as potential buyers approach the home.

2. Inside, clean the house thoroughly, especially the bathroom and kitchen. Make sure the woodwork is either cleaned or freshly painted. Those two areas are very important in most people’s minds, and you need to pay special attention to them to create a good impression.

3. Make sure all the faucets work (without dripping) and all light bulbs come on when their switches are turned on. Little things like that can be distracting to buyers.

4. Make certain that every closet door and cabinet opens easily, and closes securely. Doors that don’t open or close properly give a negative impression to buyers.

5. Don’t let your kids leave out their roller skates or skateboards, and if there are slippery rugs that you’ve learned not to step on over the years, remove them so potential buyers don’t go flying.

6. Organize closets, basements, and attics, so that they look larger. Just like you, buyers are always looking for room to store things. If you have so much stuff that you can’t do that, consider having a garage sale, renting a storage space, or calling the Salvation Army truck.

7. Pay special attention to the bedrooms. Just like the kitchen and bathroom, comfortable, spacious, and well-organized bedrooms make a positive impression in home buyer’s minds, because they know they’ll be spending a significant amount of time in them.

8. Open your curtains during the daytime, to let in as much light as possible. It gives a positive feeling to the home and makes rooms feel more spacious.

9. If the home is being shown at night, turn on every light inside and outside of the house. You’ll be brightening the mood, as well as showing off your color scheme and wallpaper designs to their best advantage.

10. Don’t have a bunch of people around when the home is being shown. In fact, it’s a good idea to make an excuse to leave yourself, so that potential buyers are free to speak freely about what they see as they tour the home.

11. If you have pets, keep them away from the buyers. In fact, it’s worthwhile to take them with you when you excuse yourself and make your exit during the showing.

When getting ready to show your home, always point toward creating a positive impression on prospective buyers. They want what you would want, they’ll notice what you’d notice, so walk through your home and try to see it from a stranger’s perspective. Ask other people to walk through and tell you the negative things they notice. Then address those things. It will all help you to sell your home–quickly, and at the best possible price.

Should You Tell Everything when Selling?

You may not know exactly how much to tell the potential buyer of your home about the property. Disclosure to potential home buyers about problems and issues has been a much debated subject. Many areas actually have laws that require certain disclosures to be made at the time the real estate contract is entered into.

Personally, I tell all. Everything from the once or twice the wind blew down the chimney the wrong way one windy spring to the small little hole in the guest room window screen. Nothing is too small and nothing is to large.

Caveat Emptor — “let the buyer beware” — used to be the law when it came to real estate transactions. Unless the buyer specifically asked about the defect, the seller didn’t need to disclose any problems.

But over the years, the Courts noticed that this was unfair. Car buyers get to test drive cars, so why should home buyers be so blind? If a seller knows about a problem in the home, the problem should be corrected or disclosed to a potential buyer.

Modern consumer protection acts have led to disclosure requirements for sellers.

Although the laws vary from place to place, the purpose of these diclosures remain the same. Sellers of residential real estate must disclose to their purchasers any known defects or information concerning the water and sewer systems, insulations, structural systems, plumbing, electrical, heating and air-conditioning systems, fixtures and much more.

These laws require the seller to complete a disclosure form at the time the real estate purchase contract is entered into and give it to the purchaser. If the purchaser has not recieved the form, he or she will have the right to terminate the contract and receive a full return of the earnest money.

What is considered a defect? Must it be something large? Do bones in the backyard really qualify as a defect?

Yes, they do. The courts have even ruled that land discovered to once be a graveyard or a scene of a heinous crime must come with a disclosure.

For example, in 1964, Mr. Louis Hickman created and recorded a piece of land that was once a graveyard. Mr. Hickman had removed the tombstones and all other surface evidence, leaving the graves underground.

In the 80’s, a couple built a house on the lot. Fifteen years later, they discovered the graveyard.

The case (Carven vs. Hickman) used the Statute of Repose. This statute basically is designed to protect builders from perpetual liability for defective conditions due to the improvement of a property. The graveyard did not count as an improvement and did not protect Mr. Hickman from liability for the “defect”.

This case isn’t your technical lack of disclosure case, but it gives you an idea of what you should disclose — everything. Otherwise, thirty-one years later, you or your estate could be sued for non-disclosure.

Caveat Emptor has no place in today’s real estate market. Disclosure of all known problems isn’t just being honest, it is beneficial for the home seller. You can protect yourself from litigation by simply stated everything. Yes, the price might drop a few hundred dollars, but it may save you tens of thousands in lawyer fees later.