When is having a home assessment report a bad thing? When you leave it out on the table during a showing. When is your home library a detriment? When you're showing your home to people who get offended by your choice of reading materials. A home sale is a time where personal information is flying around as people attempt to sell their home for as much as they can reasonably expect to get (and sometimes more). Some people forget that buyers and buyers' agents will take advantage of whatever pieces of information that are left lying around.
If your information about the house's assessed value is on the table in plain view, don't think for a second that people won't have themselves a little reading time - to their benefit and not to yours. Keep in mind that people are allowed to look in the built-in features of your home, such as drawers and shelves, to check for depth and ease of use. Secure your private papers out of sight and access!
The same goes for mail. Even if it doesn't show anything more than your name and address, do you really want prospective buyers to see that you have four different credit card bills or that you subscribe to Bondage Weekly? Clear all of this away and make sure that you know when the mailman usually arrives, so you can arrange showings for when he's not going to be dumping Dog Fancy into your mailbox right in front of a horribly allergic buyer. These things may seem petty, but buyers can be turned off for what seem like very insignificant reasons.
In the course of home cleaning, you may have secured your valuables and fragile knick-nacks away from careless hands, but think about your diplomas, marriage certificates and other awards and honors. While it is usually to your credit that you have achieved a degree or diploma, it may also provide a buyer with the idea that you may be eager to sell to cover tuition or some other, perhaps erroneous notion. Some buyers may have a dislike of your religion of choice, and may come away with a negative impression of your home because you were married in Religious Building X. Who knows? What you can be sure of is that de-personalizing your home as much as possible not only encourages potential buyers to see themselves living in the property; it also protects your private information and you from any preconceived notions.
Look at what your reading material says about you. Take back the library books entitled, "So You Need To Sell Your Home Yesterday", "Handy Tips to Covering Up Major Home Foundation Damage" and "Roof Replacement with Crazy Glue". Likewise conceal any book that would be considered not PG13. While you should not be ashamed of your hobbies, consider if they are likely to cause a significant amount of the population some awkwardness. Avoid distracting your buyers from considering your home as a possible future home for them.
Take all of your horror movie posters down. The last thing you want to do is for anyone to equate your home with the one that Freddy Krueger haunted or where Michael Myers julienned screaming B-movie actresses. Also, if you are an aficionado of scantily clad men or women clutching swords and fighting dragons, you may want to take those down too.
Actually, the less personality your home has, the better. You don't want buyers to see your personality in the home you're selling; you want them to see theirs. Emotionally identifying with a home plays a big part in whether buyers seriously consider purchasing your home. Things that go contrary to your buyers' worldview can stop the purchase process in its tracks and you don't want that.
Don't give buyers a reason to lower their offer or discard your home as a purchase prospect. Avoid giving them any information about your home or you that won't further your goal of selling your home for the price you want. There are a lot of things that potential buyers and/or their agents can use to find out information about you and your motivations for selling. Do everything in your power to remove this advantage.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/real-estate-articles/knowledge-is-power-keep-your-information-private-when-home-selling-691739.html
About the Author:
For the tools and information needed to succeed in the Saint Paul real estate market, look no further. Saint-Paul-Real-Estate.com offers valuable information on St.Paul neighborhoods and surrounding communities including Downtown Saint Paul real estate.