Preparing your home for viewings

The one-hour checklist

Buyers decide emotionally in the first minutes and justify logically afterwards. An hour of preparation moves both:

• Clear surfaces and hallways — half-empty rooms read larger than full ones.
• Open every curtain and switch every light; daylight photographs and shows best.
• Fix the small things buyers notice: dripping taps, squeaky doors, dead bulbs.
• Set out the title copy, tax declaration and association dues statement — serious buyers ask.
• Remove valuables and personal documents from view during open houses.

Photos that earn the visit

Your listing's photos are the first viewing. Shoot landscape at midday with curtains open, lead with the strongest room, and include the honest context — the street, the facade, the kitchen as it is. You can reorder the gallery; put the photo that stops the scroll first.

Eight clear photos beat twenty duplicates. Include the floor plan if you have one — listings with plans get measurably more serious enquiries.

During the viewing

Let the buyer walk the rooms at their own pace and answer questions plainly — over-talking reads as covering something. Confirm viewing requests promptly (the site shows your response time publicly), and for occupied homes arrange a window when the space shows normally lived-in rather than staged to emptiness.

Never hand over original documents — a photocopy or a certified-true-copy receipt is enough until the lawyer stage.

After they leave

Send a short thank-you through the enquiry thread — it keeps the conversation in one auditable place. If they request a second viewing, that is a buying signal; have the documents list ready to share. If they go quiet, the panel's follow-up reminder surfaces the lead again — one polite follow-up is professional, five is not.