When you are selling your home, expect a lot of people to "intrude" on your privacy. If you get a real estate firm to handle the dirty work for you, then you're in luck - they will handle most of the discreet inquiries. But if you yourself are doing the selling, then this task, to say the least, will be Herculean in nature.
As an independent home seller, you may be flooded by a long line of emails and unending phone calls from potential buyers. Answering emails will not pose much of a problem since you have time to compose your thoughts and you can do those at your own convenience. People phoning in their inquiries is definitely not the same banana.
Many people are naive enough to believe that phone inquiries are like taking candy from a child because they are essentially invisible - well, guess again. The person on the other end of the line can sense your mood at that particular time. Your tone of voice and inflection tells the entire story - they may not be able to read your body language but they will always be able to sense if you are irate, sarcastic or bored. Keeping that in mind, always make it a point to mind your inflection. No matter how inane their questions are, do not show your irritation.
And of course, it is given that you need to know every minute detail about your home. You have to expect the unexpected and think of those out of the box questions (i.e. when was the last time you did a general cleaning in the basement?) and the corresponding answer, instead of merely knowing the basics, i.e. how many bathrooms, bedrooms and how many cars fit in the garage. There isn't anything more disconcerting to a buyer than encountering somebody selling his/her home without the proper knowledge of the little things - and little things count the most in this case!
In a perfect world, it would be you yourself answering all inquiries when somebody phones you. But chances are you will not always be at home, so you may want to designate somebody to do the talking in your stead, and leave specific instructions to that person. If no one can do the job well, then make sure you can be reached through your cell phone.
As an independent home seller, you may be flooded by a long line of emails and unending phone calls from potential buyers. Answering emails will not pose much of a problem since you have time to compose your thoughts and you can do those at your own convenience. People phoning in their inquiries is definitely not the same banana.
Many people are naive enough to believe that phone inquiries are like taking candy from a child because they are essentially invisible - well, guess again. The person on the other end of the line can sense your mood at that particular time. Your tone of voice and inflection tells the entire story - they may not be able to read your body language but they will always be able to sense if you are irate, sarcastic or bored. Keeping that in mind, always make it a point to mind your inflection. No matter how inane their questions are, do not show your irritation.
And of course, it is given that you need to know every minute detail about your home. You have to expect the unexpected and think of those out of the box questions (i.e. when was the last time you did a general cleaning in the basement?) and the corresponding answer, instead of merely knowing the basics, i.e. how many bathrooms, bedrooms and how many cars fit in the garage. There isn't anything more disconcerting to a buyer than encountering somebody selling his/her home without the proper knowledge of the little things - and little things count the most in this case!
In a perfect world, it would be you yourself answering all inquiries when somebody phones you. But chances are you will not always be at home, so you may want to designate somebody to do the talking in your stead, and leave specific instructions to that person. If no one can do the job well, then make sure you can be reached through your cell phone.
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