If you’re thinking about saving a few thousand £££’s and carrying out your own viewings and want to give it a trial, and I’m confident I can help you do this as well as any agent ever could.

Your knowledge of your property, it’s running costs and what’s special about the local area will be better than any agents, and your enthusiasm will be infectious when channelled correctly.

How to Conduct a Viewing

Decide on the order of the tour in advance – Having a plan in mind means you won’t miss anything out, and it shows the viewer you know exactly what you’re doing.

Start and finish in the best room (if possible) – This is the room they’ll remember the most and finishing in the same place reassures viewers that they’ve had a thorough, inside-out tour.

Let them look around independently – No viewer expects to explore your house alone, but you can give them breathing space in each room. Let them go in first, then stand back as they walk around the room.

Don’t sell too hard – Building genuine rapport is far better than being too formal or trying to sell too hard. You want your viewers to be relaxed and feel welcome. If they feel like you’re trying too hard to sell your home, they may back off and feel there’s something you’re covering up!

Give them information they won’t get anywhere else – Once you’ve earned their trust and you’re talking freely, ask them what they’d like to know about your property or the area. Remember the rule ‘facts tell, stories sell’ so if you’ve any anecdotal stories about your neighbours, name drop them and let your buyers know how nice they are.

Similarly, if the buyer has mentioned having kids, ask what schools they are considering and if you have children or know the school well, it’s a great talking point! Buyers will buy into how conveniently located your property is, and how much that convenience will help to make their lives a little easier.

Things to do…

Greet your visitors warmly when they arrive, the way you would like to be greeted.

Ask buyers what information they’d like to know. It’s better than going into a full story (that might seem a bit sales-pitchy) that they aren’t particularly interested in. Questions might be ‘Do you know much about this area?’ or ‘Is there anything you’d like to know about the location?’.

If there are features about specific rooms such as it attracts an abundance of light, let them know this.

If you’ve upgraded anything, it’s worth letting them know, especially if its not obvious like the electrical consumer unit. If you replaced the kitchen and boiler a few years ago, mention it.  Anything that was a significant cost, mention how much you spent.

Buyers like to know about the cost if running a property so ask the viewers if they’d like to know what the costs are, which could be leasehold costs (if applicable) and utility bill costs.

Remember to show them things that are less obvious, such as useful storage space.

Tell your potential buyers to get in touch with your agent if they have any further questions.

Remember to keep your cat or dog separate, if possible. Not everybody likes pets, and they may distract from the viewing, especially if noisy or boisterous.

Things to avoid…

Overloading your visitors with information. They’ll already have the key information from the property listing, so you don’t need to go into too much detail unless asked. Remember too much information especially if not asked for, will come over as pushy.

Don’t ever bend the truth. If a viewer asks a difficult question, be as honest as possible. Don’t ever mislead potential buyers, as it will backfire later.

Avoid being negative about the property, even if it’s a light-hearted comment. Always be positive about the property. For example if the buyer comments on something broken or obviously defective, reply ‘yes we we’re going to get around to fixing it, but thought a buyer might want to do something different to us, so we decided to leave it’.

Talking too much about yourself and your connection to the house. The viewer needs to be able to see themselves here, not feel like they’re intruding on someone else’s property.

DO NOT get pulled into discussing the price you’d accept as once you’ve stated a figure, it’ll be very difficult to back-track. If a buyer is keen and asks anything about the price you’d accept, thank them and explain your agent is handling this part for you and when they leave, call your agent!

Top tip

Have a guide you’ve prepared about your property. When viewers are leaving hand a guide to them and say ‘I’ve prepared this guide especially for you’. Mention the things that first attracted you to the property when you bought it, what you love about the area, the typical costs of the property and how you’ll miss living in this place when you leave. Mention any upgrades you’ve made during your tenure.

Giving the buyers something will mean they remember your property. We’ll help you create one of these guides.

If you would like to discuss this in more detail call James on 020 8432 1505 or email me at james@fishneedwater.com