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Ten tips for showing viewers around your house

If you’re handling your own viewings, it’s imperative to optimise the process of showing viewers around your house.

Showing viewers around your house can feel intimidating. At Cloud Estates, we simplify property marketing by vetting enquiries to ensure anyone who arrives at your front door is a motivated and viable purchaser. However, if you’re handling your own viewings (as most homeowners do), it’s crucial to represent your property in its best light, including maximising its presentation.

Even if you’re not confident chatting to strangers, or blessed with a silver tongue, these ten tips for showing viewers around your house are worth committing to memory…

1. Rehearse your introduction. You can’t script an entire property tour, but a confident start puts everyone at ease. Practice a few icebreaker opening lines like “thanks for coming – I’ll be your tour guide today” until you find yourself saying them confidently.
2. Neutralise aromas. While your home’s for sale, avoid cooking pungent foods like fish. Maximise fresh air, light a candle downstairs and banish smelly shoes into cupboard. If possible, remove pets from the property ahead of scheduled viewings.
3. Start and finish in the strongest space. First impressions count, while the last thing people see lingers in their memory. Bookend viewings with your property’s best attribute – a large family kitchen, a suntrap garden or a well-presented period hallway.
4. Highlight hidden features. Don’t just walk into the bathroom and say, “here’s the bathroom”. Add context and insider info – which rooms get the afternoon sun, any recent refurbishments or key specifications, and features regular visitors appreciate/comment on.
5. Let people walk ahead of you. Walking around with your back to viewers feels unfriendly. They’ll struggle to hear you, and you can’t control when they move on to another room, which you can when leading from the back.
6. Avoid negatives. Property viewings should be positive affairs, so don’t mention problems or issues. Say “the extension’s been reroofed” rather than “the roof used to leak”; “we’ve floored the loft” rather than “we ran out of storage”.
7. Discuss flexibility. People may allocate rooms differently to your current configuration. If a home office accommodates a double bed, say so. Visitors may struggle to picture their furniture in unfamiliar spaces or imagine how certain rooms could be redeployed.
8. Let people wander around. However comprehensive your tour has been, viewers will want to revisit certain features. Give them permission to explore unaccompanied, telling them where you’ll be waiting once they’ve finished, and then encouraging any supplementary questions.
9. Don’t talk turkey. We recommend deflecting questions about offers or interest levels to Cloud Estates and our team of property professionals. Even if you’re a salesperson by trade, discussing property values during viewings is a minefield!
10. Say goodbye. After showing viewers around your house, walk them to the front door and thank them for coming. This creates a positive final impression, suggesting you’ll be approachable and reasonable during offer negotiations or conveyancing.