Prepare Listing

Supra Keybox

ShowingTime

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Prepare Listing

Preparing homes for photos and showings involves several steps to ensure that your sellers can sell for top-dollar in the least amount of time.

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1. Pre-packing - This is what we call it when the seller has a lot of clutter. We want them to remove clutter and personalization, and allow the buyer to walk through the home and have the space to envision their belongings there. "Pre-packing" sounds a lot nicer than "decluttering" and also includes removing family photos, religious, political or other types of decorations that would detract from the home or possibly offend a buyer during a showing.
    

2. Staging - Have a stager come in to tell them how to ideally place furniture in the home to show the optimized usage of the rooms in the photos. The stager will also tell them which things need to be touched up before the photos as well.
    

3. Pre-inspection - It's often a great idea to get an inspection done before listing the home to allow the seller to have time to make necessary repairs that can often be done by a handyman at a lesser expense. It also gives the buyer some confidence when they see the inspection in Transaction Desk and the notes that all of these items have been already taken care of before they buy. It reduces surprises for everyone.
    

4. Prepare the Inside of the House - Before photos, have the house deep cleaned including the carpets. So many homes are a turn-off for buyers because the carpet is dingy and gross. Clean the walls, baseboards, light fixtures and switch plates. Don't let your listing go for less than top dollar because it's dirty and leaves a bad impression.
    

5. Prepare the Outside of the House - Before photos, make sure the yard is cleaned, the driveway and patios are power-washed and the trees are neatly trimmed. It also helps to put some colorful flowers in pots and a doormat to make the entrance look welcoming for buyers.
    

6. Photos - This is a critical step! Remember that most buyers see the homes online before ever stepping foot in the door. Without proper photos, your first impression to buyers might be "skip".  Don't cheap out and try to do the photos yourself with your phone. It's better to trust this to a photographer who has the right camera to produce the HD images and set it up with the best lighting. Make sure that fans are turned off and toilet seats/lids are down. Do your best to present the home in the best possible manner.
    

7. Smells - If the seller is still living in the house make sure the seller is advised not to cook smelly foods and other things that will be a turnoff to some buyers. Walking into a house and getting hit in the face by the smell of fish or other seasonings can be a very bad first impression. Keep the dogs bathed so that they are not smelling up the house either. This is another reason to get the carpet cleaned too. It's also a good idea to have an essential oil diffuser in various places around the house with a few drops of a simple smell like vanilla. These are safer than burning candles and will run for hours. Don't forget to take the garbage out to the trash can!
    

8. Lights & Doors - Have the seller leave all of the lights on and the doors open. This allows the home to give the best first impression when buyers walk in. If the house is dark, they are hunting for light switches and they can't see how beautiful the rooms are. Make it easy. Put a note in the showing instructions and a note on the inside of the door to agents to leave all of the lights on. It's habit for them to turn them off after showings. 
    

9. Gather Documents - Gather all of the documents that you can up front to put into the MLS Transaction Desk to make your contract run smoother and close some of the loopholes for the buyer "outs" such as Seller's Disclosure, survey, any inspection reports done on the property, listing instructions, and other information that is helpful for the buyer's agent to have when preparing the contract. A list of property upgrades that have been done is also helpful in marketing the property.

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Supra Keybox

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How to open Supra Keybox Shackle:

1. Hit the "Open Shackle" button.

2. Type in your 4 digit passcode and select the reason for opening the shackle

3. Select "Add on a New Listing" and enter the MLS ID number

4. Tap on the "Begin" button

5. Push up on the black keybox to turn on the Supra iBox

6. The app will start communicating and you will hear familiar chirping

7. When your phone makes the jingle sound, you can press DOWN on the shackle at the top to lift it out of the Supra

8. Now you can put the shackle over the door handle and slide the Supra back up onto the shackle to lock it onto the door at your listing

9. NOTE: If there is not a good way to hang it on the door because it won't fit, you can find an alternate place to hang it near the front door area preferably in a spot that will not allow the keybox to be stolen from the property like a nearby lamp or pipe. 

10. If you do put it somewhere besides the front door, be sure to make that note in the showing instructions in MLS and in Showingtime so people get those appointment instructions and agents aren't left lurking for the box. You will get a lot of calls from confused agents.

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ShowingTime

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You can spend a lot of time scheduling showings if you do not have a showing service to handle the process that allows buyer's agents to schedule showings at times that are convenient for them, allows the seller to approve or decline appointments and allows for blocking out showing times for when the seller may have family in town or something that prevents them from being able to leave for the showings. A service like ShowingTime will also allow you to set parameters around when agents can show the home, how soon they can schedule before showing up and even collecting feedback after the appointment. It also allows you to send broadcast emails to agents who have already shown the property.

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Before the Showing

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Unless your listing is set as "Go & Show" where you don't need to approve appointments, give timely responses approving or declining all showing appointment requests.

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After the Showing

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Follow up with the showing buyer agents to get constructive feedback to share directly with the seller to help them with their sale related decisions.