Simple equation right? Not always... Sometimes we list a property and then when we call the next day to book a showing our Clients are surprised. Sometimes people don’t expect showings to happen right away (even if we tell them they can) and they are caught off guard. You never know when the first showing might come so you have to mentally prepare yourself and be ready when that call comes in.
The other thing that can happen is that Sellers assume that they will have a day (or week) to do some last minute things around the house. This isn’t always the case. When I meet with my Clients to do the listing contract I usually take photos at the same time. If they aren’t ready for photos, they aren’t ready for showings. Sometimes we can move things in or out of photos that can quickly be cleaned up or put away and that’s okay but I really don’t like to upload a listing to REALTOR.ca when you tell me that you still have to paint the living room. We all know that life happens and things don’t always go as planned. We also know you only get one chance to make a first impression so you don’t want to have someone come in and see work that hasn’t been completed, they want to see exactly what they are buying.
If I show a home to a Client and they have a note on the kitchen table saying “the house is going to be painted before possession” that doesn’t necessarily give me the warm and fuzzies. What if they are planning to paint themselves but they aren’t very good painters, what is that paint job going to look like? We have no way of knowing what the finished product will look like. Also if they don’t leave a paint chip to give us an idea of the colour then it can be a real lottery, what if they choose bubble gum pink? More than likely that isn’t going to happen but when you are buying your biggest investment you want to know what you are getting.
So now we have the first showing under our belt and an offer comes in right away. This can really catch people off guard. Sometimes they think their home might take a while to sell or they are just going to “see what happens”. If you are going to list your home you need to be ready to sell. So if you are building a home and you put it on early to give yourself lots of time and it sells right away you need to have a plan. Maybe you do a short term rental or stay with family or in your RV. It doesn’t matter what the plan is you just have to make sure you have one.
We spend a lot of time researching the market and the historical data of similar homes and offer our Clients advice based on that and our experience but at the end of the day I still have never found a crystal ball at the bottom of my bag. Prepare yourself and your family and be ready for showings and an offer, that way you won’t be caught off guard.
If you have reno tips or stories leave a comment or feel free to ask a question.
