Earn the Morning

A viewing is mostly decided before the buyer arrives. The seller who was up early, opened every curtain, fixed the dripping tap in the guest bathroom and put the folder of plans and certificates on the kitchen counter meets the buyer as a host. The seller still clearing breakfast plates when the car pulls in meets the buyer as a guest in his own house.

The difference shows in small ways. A host can answer the question about the inverter because the invoice is right there, and knows which plug points run off it. A guest apologises, searches drawers, and promises to find out, and the buyer adds that uncertainty, without saying so, to the list of reasons to offer less.

Nothing about the house changed between those two mornings. The bricks, the roof and the stand are identical. What changed is that one seller took charge of the first impression and the other left it to luck.

So the hour before a viewing matters more than its length suggests. It is cheap, it is available to every seller, and it is one part of the sale that sits entirely in the seller's hands, unlike the interest rate, the market or the buyer's bank.