Don’t worry it’s not scary movie time ! It is however a suggestion, hint or nudge in the right direction that you vacate your home when your estate agent is showing potential buyers around.

You have (hopefully) instructed a professional team with the Estate Agency you chose to work with and their job is to get the best out of every viewing that takes place on your home, that is part of the fee that you will be charged once the sale has gone through – to put it a different way, you wouldn’t go to a restaurant and nip into the kitchen to cook your own meal would you?

I do understand that as the owner of the property you want to know what is going on, be there to make sure the buyer knows every little detail about your home, answer any little question they may have and pass on all the valuable information about the neighbourhood – but the buyer and the agent will feel uncomfortable.

Uncomfortable Buyer

You need a buyer to be able to move house, it’s that simple. Some buyers will take 15 minutes to view your home and others may take 30, but with a vendor following closely behind it will more than likely be over and done in 5 minutes.

The buyers are looking to spend a large sum of money on your property and whilst they walk around your home, they are not just wandering around in silence – in each room they visit a process of moving in takes over them and they need to discuss it openly, either with the agent or their partner and it is very hard for them to make suggestions about how they would see themselves in this home if they feel as though the vendor will hear everything.

Imagine over hearing a buyer making negative comments about you home, how would you take it?

If a buyer feels comfortable inside your property, then the questions that they raise will be will be dealt with by a sales person, who can turn a negative into a positive, which can lead to a sale and after all that is the aim.

Normally after a second viewing the buyers will want to meet up with you, sit in their home to be and enjoy a cup of coffee and a natter – so save it until then (but still be careful what you say).

Uncomfortable Agent

When the agent came out to value your property, they wanted to know everything about you and your home, this gives them an insight into which buyers would fit nicely with your needs.

Just like dealing with you, the agent has spent time trying to decipher exactly what the buyers are looking for, so they don’t waste everyone’s time.

Therefore if the agent bring round a buyer, who for arguments sake wants to open up the staircase for a specific reason and you spend 5 minutes explaining how much storage is in the under stairs cupboard, then you start stepping on the agents toes.

The agent has a selling process that they work to and need to feel unhindered whilst discussing the features that the specific buyer is looking for – they are not trying to haggle over a £25.00 rug at a market stall – its a £300,000 property (or more).

Without you in the home, the agent can freely speak, make suggestions that would assist the buyer and try to close the deal for you.

In Conclusion

I know it is your property and its wonderful that you show an interest, but if you don’t ‘Get out of the House’ you may find that you will be owning the property for longer than you wanted – Trust your Agent and let them do their job, which includes updating you once they have feedback from the buyers!