How to Conduct a House Tour Without a Realtor

You've decided to sell your house yourself, without a real estate agent. You've set your asking price, put up the for-sale sign, printed out flyers and made the house look and smell good in preparation for prospective buyers. Here they come. Now what?

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Lock up anything potentially dangerous to visitors. This includes pets, even those that have always been friendly. Arrange for them to stay with a friend or neighbor.
2. Dress in tasteful casual attire. People are really shopping for lifestyle when they shop for a house, so reflect the lifestyle you're selling in your grooming and dress.
3. Ask viewers to sign a guest register and include their address and phone number.
4. Accompany viewers at all times. Point our your property's strong points, but don't hover or interrupt conversations prospective buyers are having among themselves.
5. Answer questions briefly and confidently. Know your property, including the brands and features of your appliances, amount of insulation, basic building materials, monthly utility and annual tax costs. Also be prepared to give out accurate information about your area, including its climate, schools, services, recreation facilities, age distribution, traffic, zoning, crime rate, health care facilities and places of worship. Do your research in advance.
6. Invite second-time viewers to go through by themselves. Stay close by--in one room or in the yard--to be available to answer questions.
7. Invite buyers who seem seriously interested to submit an offer and schedule an appointment for an offer presentation. If you get this far on your house tour, you've done a great job!

Tips & Warnings

• Plan your tour to highlight the home's best features by either starting or ending with them.
• Sell the benefits of your house and neighborhood as a way of life for the buyer, instead of selling individual features.
• If you don't know the answer to a question, say so and offer to get back to the prospective buyer. Be sure to follow through.
• Handle viewers' criticisms of your home calmly. Empathize, then explain why their objection is untrue, or agree that it is true and explain how you handled it so it wasn't a disadvantage. You can also point out that it's a minor problem in comparison to your home's many good points.
• Don't negotiate while you're showing your home. You can bargain more effectively later.