While many buyers prefer searching for a home during the day on the weekends, that’s not always possible, especially for those who work late or have other commitments that require them to see houses they’re interested in later in the evening, when the sun has already set. That’s why you must consider how your home shows at night just as much as you would for a daytime showing.
The best way to understand how people will perceive your house at night is to simply approach your house from outside when it’s dark. Focus initially on the lights. Can you see the house? Is the driveway well lit? Are enough lights on inside so that it doesn’t look dark and desolate?
Take a stroll around your entire property so that you can see if there’s enough illumination around both the front and back yards, as well as any patio, deck, pool or outside amenity worth seeing. If not, invest in some floodlights that can hang on trees, the side of your home or your deck and add some brightness to the yard. Low voltage string lighting along path edges is also an effective and inexpensive solution.
Inside, you need to make it a point to keep lights on in every room so that prospective buyers don’t miss something important, or worse, trip over something. Plus, you put a lot of time into staging your house for a showing, and you want to ensure a prospective buyer sees it all.
It’s not uncommon for a prospective buyer to make a return trip to your home after seeing it during the day in order to get a good feel for the street and neighborhood after the sun has gone down. While you can’t do anything about street lights, you can make sure your lights showcase your yard and provide a feeling of safety and security.
Selling a home is a 24-hour job, seven days a week, so do your best to make it shine day and night.
