How to Show a Home the Right Way and Actually Help Your Buyers Make a Decision

Showing a home is not just unlocking the door and letting buyers wander around. A good showing has a process.

In this episode, I’m breaking down how to properly show a home as a real estate agent, from preparing before the appointment to guiding the buyer through the property without overwhelming them. I’ll talk about what to look for, what to point out, when to stay quiet, and how to help buyers compare homes in a way that actually moves them toward a decision.

If you are a newer agent, this is one of those skills that can separate you fast. Buyers do not need a door opener. They need someone who notices things, explains what matters, and helps them think clearly.

We’ll cover:

How to prepare before the showing
 What to know before you walk in the door
 How to guide the buyer without being pushy
 What details agents should pay attention to
 How to handle buyer questions during the showing
 What to do after the showing so you do not lose momentum

If you want to build confidence as a buyer’s agent and show homes like a professional, this one is for you.

Thanks for watching. Be sure to catch the video version on my YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@StopChasingStartAttracting

Transcript

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So today's the day you have a buyer and you're taking them out into a home, but what do you do? And most realtors, I feel, get this wrong. You are not a tour guide. You are not there to just open the door. You are now an advisor. And I want you to listen to every bit of this information and stay to the end about what you should and shouldn't do when you're showing a property to your buyers, especially if it's the first time you've been with them. You want to build yourself as that authority, that trusted advisor. So if you're not with them and they walk into an open house, they cannot imagine working with anyone but you because you are going to tell them, hey, I don't like this over here. So stay tuned. Welcome to Stop Chasing, Start Attracting. My name is Robin Cavallaro. I'm a realtor in the villages, Florida. I developed this program to guide realtors into building their brand, becoming that authority, and reinventing their life like I did with real estate. It's not that hard, but you will have to work hard at it. So today, in this episode, this is another page for your playbook on how to properly take a buyer through a property and the things that you should look at and point out and know about this property so they can make a good buying decision, not an emotional one. And everything that I'm telling you here today, these are items and tactics and strategies that I use when I go and take my buyers out on a tour. Remember, you are the teacher, you are the advisor. So you have to shift from I'm just opening the door and letting them in because they can go in and see, oh, this is the kitchen. But what about these items in the home, these rooms, the fixtures that you should know about? They're looking to you for expert advice and you have to give it to them. So it's not like going through and this is an HGTV show, unless it's, you know, I don't know, love it or dump it kind of thing. But you want your buyers to leave with the knowledge that wow, they really took care of me. They are proactive. And I know if I walk into an open house somewhere and the agent is trying to talk me into using them, I know there's no way I would ever trust anyone but me to go through that home. And I have I have a buyer right now. I couldn't show a property, I couldn't go look at the property. They're not here. I said, I can't do it until Tuesday, but I can get one of my work partners to go through. And she talked to her husband, she's like, no, we want you to go through it because we know we trust you, we know you, you we know that you're gonna give us a really good feel of what this property is about. Because I walk through that home and these are the things that I start to look at. While they're looking at the colors, I'm looking at wear and tear on the kitchen cabinets, especially right underneath the sink. I'm looking at chipping on the countertops. I'm looking underneath the sink to see if there's any evidence of leaking. I run the water, turn the garbage disposal on, I go look in the oven, I open the microwave, I'm opening the cabinets. I want to see what these people are like. Is there food in the refrigerator? So we know if we're living there or not, but how clean are they? If the house looks bad, then I know when they get an inspection, there's probably going to be a lot of problems. So again, in the kitchen, I look through these things. I look at the floor, I want to see if it's laminate or LVP, if it's tile. I want to see are the baseboards clean? Are is the grout clean? Are there any bumps in the floor? Anything scuffed up? Uh cabinets that don't shut. Uh if you go into the bathrooms, you want to make sure that the toilet's flush, the water's running clearly, there's not a lot of calcification on the faucets, on the shower head. What does the grout look like? Is there carpet? What does the carpet look like in the bedroom and the condition of it? Um, I want to go through and look at the window treatments. Uh, do the windows open up? I know in my market that's a role stickler because many of the sellers don't ever open the windows because you know it's Florida, it's hot. But what happens is when we go to an inspection and they open the windows, they break. The little things break. So um I test the windows as I want to know some of these things before we go into an inspection because my buyers are always looking at multiple properties, and 90% of them are here for a short period of time. So I need to assist and make sure I'm helping them make that best buying decisions for looking at all the junk. You know, I had a father and a son in my car one day, and and the father said to me, Why do you point out all the bad stuff? And I said, Because you can find all the rainbows and unicorns, they're right out there. You hire me so I can find all the imperfections. I don't, and and then these might be things that never come up in an inspection, but I want you to know about it because a month from now, I don't want you to say, Hey, why didn't you tell me about that? Why didn't you see that? So I do the best I can. You know, I'm not 100% perfect, although sometimes we all like to think we are, but I want to make sure that I'm looking at the things that you're not looking at. Let's go back. Water stains. You look in the ceiling. You know what I look at, and I and you can't see this here, but um the returns for the air conditioning and the air conditioning vents are in the ceiling here. Um, I look to see if there's dirt. I know a lot of times if they don't take care of the HVAC unit, you'll see a lot of dirt coming out of the air conditioner. I know they've never cleaned the ducts, and that the HVAC will probably need to be serviced. Um, I walk around the exterior of the home. What do the sprinkler heads look like? Sometimes I'll even run the sprinklers just to see what it looks like. Um, I go to the HVAC unit and see if there's any uh the condensate, if it's leaking, it should, it should drip, but I go to the the condenser unit to see because ours are separate, our air handlers in the garage and the condenser units outside. I look for dates on all these the hot water heater and the HVAC unit. Um the roof, obviously I can't tell, but one step further, um when before we go into contract, I actually go and submit for permits. My inspector does that as well, but um I've been getting them back pretty quickly in my market. So I like to know they said they put a roof on. When was it actually put on? Because sometimes they don't know. So um checking for permits is uh that really will show your authority. Um, not about the interior of the home, but I also pull a tax bill so we know what the actual taxes were from last year and I estimate moving forward. Um, so let's go back outside. We're looking at the landscaping. What does it look like? Are there a lot of weeds? Has everything been trimmed? Um, have they power washed the home? Does it need to be painted? Is are there any cracks in the stucco? Um, if it's a uh block and stucco home, I look at these things. Um I listen and I smell first off. I go into the house and I smell like I'm a German shepherd. Um I'm trying to detect smoke and pet odor because sometimes those things can come out, sometimes they cannot. Um, and if you have a buyer that's highly allergic to pets, that home could be a problem. Even if they get it cleaned, it could still be a problem. So you those are things you want to make sure you're aware of. Your buyers will love you for it. Um, some of the some things are negatives that buyers don't, and and any buyer typically thinks is a positive, but I point this out. So a couple things, for example, uh corner lots. Everyone loves a corner lot, but where I am, the corner lot is the doggy bathroom and everyone drives over the grass. And you'll see in my area where the corner lots, they'll put stones and signs. So, you know, if you point that out to your buyer, they'll love you for it because that may end up being a big deal. They may move in and not be happy with that. But if you pointed it out, they at least have the opportunity to say yes or no. You did not let let them make that decision, but by pointing that out, you prove yourself to be the expert. Look in the garage. Um, what does the garage look like? Is there a lot of dirt? Is there um is it banged up? Um, you know, sometimes those things just really say a lot about the homeowner and um the condition they keep the home in. When it comes to measurements, um, I always use public record when I'm listing a home, but um you might want to do a quick measure, make sure that uh the rooms measure up, that they're not exaggerating a little bit on square footage. And if the home is coming turnkey, meaning they're selling everything in it, just take a quick look around to see the condition. Point out, like I've done this a lot of times, like this sofa is disgusting. And this is the language I use. That sofa is disgusting, and I would get it thrown out. Um, offer options so they know I know you don't like this furniture, it's crap, but we can get rid of it, don't worry about it. And the more you point out the negative, the more trust building you will have with your buyer and eventually sellers, because they know you're gonna give it to them straight. And I hear this all the time. You're a straight shooter, and we know we can trust you when it comes to looking at the property, because I still sell a lot of homes just from a video tour, because I've grown that no like trust with my buyers that they can be assured that if I go through the home and I don't like it, I'm going to tell them. And even if they don't, if they my market, they could buy a home from Property of the Villages, and I lose the sale. But I rather lose the sale than have a buyer buy something and regret it later because of something I did not point out. Again, you can't always point out everything, but you can be pretty close and your buyers will love you for it. So take that page, slip it into your new playbook, and thank you for watching this episode of Stop Chasing, Start Attracting, where you come to build your brand, grow your authority, and reinvent your life with real estate. I'm Robin Cavallero. And if you or your broker are interested in any kind of training programs that I have to teach you how to be number one in your market and not be afraid to get on camera, I have many options available, virtual or in house. And also speaking at your next association meeting. So reach out to me. My contact information is below. Again, thank you very much for watching, and I'll see you in the next episode.