It's Showtime!: How to Sell & Showcase Your Home [Paperback]

Mary Donnelly Pilgrim (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1998

A seller's manual to teach homeowners how to prepare their homes for the market, to "set the stage for a performance", and learn what issues, like radon, underground oil tanks and home inspections, are important to the buyer.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

The most important message in this book is to prepare your house thoroughly before you put it on the market, or you will be at the mercy of the scrupulous house hunter.

It would be understandable for you, the seller, to have an emotional attachment to your home, however, keep in mind that the sale of your house is strictly a business deal. The potential buyer will never see your home in the same way you do. Try not to react personally when the buyer suggests making changes to your home. Keep in mind that your goal is to sell the house. So put your emotions on the back burner and begin planning your strategy.

When potential buyers come to evaluate your house, they want to see a "performance", meaning that they want the house to speak for itself. What is it about your house that makes it better than the many others they've seen? Buyers want to identify a special quality in a home, which makes them feel that they absolutely must have your house. Since you can't possible predict what every person might be looking for, you'll need to cover as many bases as possible to appeal to the widest variety of people. The buyer's final selection of your house might be based on that extra effort you put into your home, because you created that special quality - whatever it was.

It is your job to set the stage for potential buyers, so they can imagine themselves living in your house. Get the buyer's attention through the use of staged scenery or "props", so he can use his imagination to create an inviting, comfortable atmosphere and feel as if the house already belongs to him. You will learn how to stimulate the buyer's senses and evoke positive emotions at the same time.

By the way, I'm using "he" and "she" interchangeably throughout the book, because it's important to remember that your buyer can be anybody. Don't play to just one audience, because you never know who is making the decisions in the family, or of whom the "family" may consist.

About the Author

Mary D. Pilgrim received a Master of Public Administration (MPA) Degree, a Bachelor of Arts Degree and a Certificate in Public Management from Kean University of New Jersey. She also retains a Real Estate Salesperson License in the State of New Jersey.

In addition to being the author of It's ShowTime !!! How to Sell and Showcase Your Home, she is also President of a publishing company specializing in books about home and family oriented issues.

Her research skills and writing abilities were developed through several years as planner, executive assistant, project manager and freelance writer in previous careers.

Her personal experiences and training in real estate have added an enlightening and humorous perspective to this particular book.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 85 pages
• Publisher: Home Pub; 1 edition (April 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966010787
• ISBN-13: 978-0966010787
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,138,631 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Helpful Book, March 15, 2000

By 

Jacqueline Berry - See all my reviews

This review is from: It's Showtime!: How to Sell & Showcase Your Home (Paperback)

I was disappointed when I first received this book because it was so small. However, I found it packed full of many practical suggestions. My copy is well underlined. I feel it really helped us sell our home for full price two days after it was listed. I also found Terry Eilers' How to Sell Your Home Fast and Kiplinger's Buying and Selling a Home most helpful.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely Informative and Helpful, September 26, 2001

By 

Charles A. Becker (Trooper, PA.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: It's Showtime!: How to Sell & Showcase Your Home (Paperback)

I found this book to be invaluable in presenting and selling my house. I didn't realize there were so many things that I could do to properly show my home. I have recommended this book to my friends and associates who are planning on selling their home.