Don’t forget to screw up your MLS listing:

a) Don’t put in the lot size.

b) Have less than 15 pictures of the property in the MLS.

c) Make sure the pictures are really low resolution so that nobody can tell what they are looking at.

d) Repeat one or two pictures to really show how much you care about your listing.

e) Remember to misspell some words when you describe the place, to sound really professional.

f) Fill in half of the metadata wrong so that people cannot filter their searches correctly. Put in a wrong year for build year, or mark your townhouse as a SFH.

Those will even keep buyers from walking into the home for sure! LOL!

In particular, the pictures are so important! When I browse listings, if I don’t like the pictures, it’s not even worth driving by…The funny thing is that a picture can make a home look far worse than it is, or far better, and sellers do have control over the pix. Putting up a good set of pix is soo important!

And, it’s always nice to use your cellphone to take those spur-of-the-moment house for sale pics! Be sure your kid is sitting on the sofa looking at you too!

From my own experiences as a potential buyer (and I’m still looking):

1. Don’t bother keeping the kitty litter box scooped and clean, especially if you keep the kitty box in a closet with clothes/linens/pantry items (yum, I want to live here!).

2. I want to see photos of your great furniture on the MLS, not the rooms themselves!

3. Also make certain that you include lots of photos of your granite counter tops — from different angles in different light — rather than photos of the other rooms or the yard. Who cares what the rest of the house looks like; I want to see every square inch of that granite!

4. Keep your dirty laundry in a pile on the floor in front of your laundry machine when your agent hosts an open house (I toured the same house twice at opens, and twice the laundry/utility room was trashed with dirty clothes piled on the floor).

Listing photos can be quite amusing, for sure. Actually, Jess, your point about the granite countertops really made me laugh! You can tell when a homeowner is really proud of some upgrade or feature because there really will be like 5 photos of the same thing!

Ha! Nothing says luxury like granite countertops.

Ha! What a great post.

As a Redfin seller how do I show our house to agentless buyers without being present?

You’re right–good point! When there is no other agent present, you should be in the house to make sure all stays well.

In this case, I would try to strike a balance between keeping an inconspicuous eye on things while at the same time giving the potential buyer the freedom and space to walk through the home. Perhaps greet them at the door, offer to answer questions if they have any, and then let them walk through while you are situated in the home, in the general vicinity (as opposed to following them room to room).

When they are getting ready to leave, I think it would be perfectly fine to say goodbye and do a last check to see if they have any questions (or are carrying out more than they came in with).

Redfin’s got some good general guidelines here:
http://p1.rfimg.us/v4.4/images/4_0/text/pdf/listing_your_home_with_Redfin-the_gory_details_v2.pdf

Some of my personal favorites:
1. Don’t bother cleaning up last night’s dinner or the mess on the stove. In fact, how about leaving the leftovers on the stove?

2. Have your adult child who is living at your home not get up during the day to leave? Surprise agents and prospective buyers by having them nap away in a dark room smelling of illegal substances and be sure the listing agent doesn’t mention their presence to keep the surprise intact for viewings.

3. Lay out all of your political and religious preferences for all viewers to see – over and over – so that they stop looking at your house and start thinking about you, the seller, personally.

4. Forget about cleaning up the yard, especially if you have dogs. Buyers and their agents find it fun to dodge “dog-bombs” when they go check out the back yard.

5. Have lots of bad photos, with no lights on, and no sense of the layout of the home. No, really Mr/Ms listing agent – I think by not having photos of the bedrooms that it will tempt my client to go see the house in person! Get real! I can’t tell you how many buyers I work with that say “If there aren’t photos, or they aren’t good photos, I’m not interested.”

Thanks for the comments! As a seller, I think I am doing everything right; there are 18 pictures, we want to do some over if it EVER gets sunny outside. We are priced competitively so why are we not getting any showings? I suspect it is the location (Storm Lake between Snohomish and Monroe). Any ideas on how to get traffic to pick up?

I walked into one condo where the renter left his clothes and shoes strewn all over and a wad of $100’s on the counter. Must have been in a hurry………(No, I didn’t take the money).

Wow! A mess is one thing, but a wad of cash is another issue altogether.

I think that sometimes sellers leave the house before they know that a showing is scheduled, although this brings up another good point–when your house is on the market, you can never let your guard down! Not only should you keep your house in good, clean order at all times, but you need to put your valuables away too!

When I had my house up for sale, I constantly felt like a fugitive, having to flee from my home, sometimes on a moment’s notice!

Hey Terri, hard to give any hard, fast advice on how to get traffic to pick up. As readers have been mentioning, the most important thing you can do to even get people in the door is to price right and make sure your MLS listing is appealing (through pictures, description, etc.) And if all that’s good and there’s still no traffic, it probably really is just a slow audience in general or for your area.

I’m not totally familiar with Storm Lake, but Monroe/Snohomish is a bit more rural than other places. If I’m right about where you are, I would think that your property might be most suitable for a particular type of buyer, who likes to be away from things. For any property, you should focus on the main selling points of the property and area to attract suitable buyers. For example, if you have a large piece of land, or an equestrian setup, etc. Focusing on the attributes that are specific and desirable to your area might interest the right kind of buyer. Also, out in Snohomish, lower property taxes are also a big plus! You know your property and why you bought it, so maybe that’s a good analysis to start with…Good luck!!

Hi Katrina: Thanks, you have hit on all the points we have covered with our agent. Traffic will pick up; once it warms up and the threat of snow goes away. This is a great neighborhood for families, and folks who want the quiet of the country with all the metro amenities; hi speed internet, protected growth areas, quiet nights. We’ll just keep making sure the house is clean when we run off with the dogs in tow in the car and a pristine home for folks to see..

Too funny–seems so obvious, yet sellers do this stuff all the time…