Pictures, and Prices, and Broker Tours and Open Houses.. oh my!

Let The Doors Open up!

Well, not The Doors "Light My Fire", but doors to the home!  Since this is our first home and the first time and probably not the last time we sell a home, we are going through the crazy process of putting it on the market.  Once you pull the trigger, the real estate train is moving fast!

First comes the photographer to take pictures our house.  Basically they show up with a wide angle lens and snap away.  We were out of town when they came, but the pictures came out great!  One tip is to include a few things in your pictures for the website, then at open house, take them down.  For example, we have a pool with a fabric fence that is removable.  For the pictures, we had it up, but slightly open.  For showings and open house, we took it down to open up the space.  The buyers could see what it looked like both ways.

After all the pictures get put up, the list agent comes over to sign a bunch of paperwork and boom.. next thing you know, there is a broker tour coming around to snoop through your underwear drawer...well not really but.   And what I thought was crazy was I thought the broker tour was only brokers.. but they brought potential buyers as well!

Immediately after the broker tour happens and your home is listed on MLS, this is when it gets yummy.  Yummy as in you might as well plan for going out alot!
- Agents will start calling you directly for a showing.  Typically a 2 hour notice or sometimes 15 minutes.
- The house needs to be ready to been seen at any time.  With kids, dogs, yard, etc it gets complicated.  What do I do with the dog, etc
- Every morning we started to get into a routine.... make the beds, vacuum, wipe everything, fluff the pillows, etc. I usually head outside and blow the front and back.
- Turn on the lights, music inside and outside, the patio fan and light and tv.  Anything to make it feel "home" for someone else.
- Cali the family dog has had quite a few trips with me to the dog park, office, San Francisco, pick up the kids from school, out to dinner. She normally is king of the castle outside chasing squirrels around the yard!