Helping Buyers Feel Less Like Intruders

Happy Family photo

When potential buyers visit your home, they often feel like intruders. After all, in most cases, they don’t know you personally. Yet, there they are, walking through your hallways, looking in your bedroom closets, and even checking out the cabinet space in your washrooms.

Obviously, you want buyers to feel comfortable when they are viewing your house. But how do you make sure they do?

Here are a couple of good ideas:

First, pack up family photos and other personal items you have dispersed throughout the home. Why is this important? When a buyer sees a diploma hanging on the wall, they get that uneasy “someone lives here” feeling.

Second, don’t be in your home during viewings. Instead, visit a coffee shop, go shopping, or take the kids to the park. Buyers feel really uncomfortable viewing a home when the owners are there. As a result, they may leave without giving your property serious consideration.

If you absolutely must be home during a viewing, try to remain out of the way. Don’t volunteer information or attempt to give buyers “the tour”. Instead, be available to answer questions, if asked.

Mortgage Payments Can Be Deceiving

Accounting

You see a great home. You pull out your mortgage calculator and start punching in the numbers. The estimated monthly payment is displayed on the screen. You think, “Yep, we can afford that!”

Can you?

It’s easy to be seduced by a mortgage payment calculation. However, mortgage payments aren’t the only costs of owning a home. You also need to consider:

  • Property taxes
  • Home insurance premiums
  • Electricity costs
  • Maintenance (especially a factor in older homes.)
  • And more.

If you don’t, you could end up spending hundreds of dollars more per month than you originally expected.