Failure to Prepare Your Home’s Appearance for the Buying Eye
When buyers look at a property, they are looking for a home, NOT a house. Impressions and emotions are vital to a buyer’s decision-making process. They are seeking a certain feeling, a place in which they’d be comfortable living. So if you want to sell your home, give the buyer that feeling that they are “home.”
Let’s examine the emotional factors influencing the choices made by the buyer. Emotions are one of, if not the most important factor for swaying a buyer’s opinion for or against a property. It is the emotional response that decides whether the logic should start to function. Remember, buyers will be looking at many homes, often professionally decorated homes. So it’s critical to make your home compete, to make the best impression possible.
Key Tip: It’s a well-known fact that women buy and men sell. The buying experience is usually an emotional one, and by nature, women experience a lot more emotion than men. So, first appeal to the woman’s emotions…and then to the man’s logic. If she is emotional enough about the home, he will justify it and make it happen!
A Home for Living and a Home for Selling
Are Completely Different Environments
To sell your home, it must look very different from the way it looks when you are living there. Think about it; when you watch your favorite sitcom, the
family’s house doesn’t look like yours, but you automatically believe that it functions that way. It has been specifically designed to make your eye see it as a regular, every day, livable home. What makes your job a bit more challenging than the sitcom set designers is that you have three other senses to appeal to. Don’t worry though; it’s easier than you think! Here are a few tried and true tips for showcasing your home for sale:
- The first impression is the decision maker for a buyer. The first impression is the one that will last, and it cannot be made twice. Make sure you know what a buyer is looking for. Put yourself in the buyer’s shoes before the buyer ever takes a step inside. Get into your car go for a quick drive and then return to your home as if you were coming to see it for the first time. Take a good look at the house and the property. How does it look? Is the landscaping neat? Are there stains in the driveway? Does it look cluttered? Remember, the buyer is seeking the appearance of a well-maintained property. Give it to them!
- Look at the outside of your home. How is the paint, the trim, even the color - is it chipping, fading, out of style for two decades? Does the roof look healthy? What is the first thing you notice as you approach your home?
- Tour your own home. Concentrate on the impression of your senses: smell, touch, sight, and hearing. Walk through each and every room while focusing on these senses. Be sure to keep an eye and nose ready for flooring and carpet stains and odors.
- De-Clutter. If it’s not essential, put it away. Pack up any extra furniture,
appliances, dishes and knick-knacks. Your home should appear neat, fresh, orderly and be easy for the buyer to imagine moving their belongings into. The buyer will expect the garage to be full of storage, but it will only pass the test if it is also clean and neat.
- Hire a professional cleaning company to clean your home. For the difference it makes in rooms, especially the kitchen, the bathrooms and the bedrooms, you’ll be assured a faster sale, and a better selling price for your home.
- Pets can often be the anti-sale. Make sure that they cannot be seen or smelled by the buyer. Take the pet out of the house when the buyer is there, and take extra care to remove the pet’s odor. Remember, you’re accustomed to it, but it is very present to the buyer who is nitpicking for their future home.
- A bright and well-lit room is a must for buyers. Before the buyer gets there, open all blinds and curtains and turn on all lights. Note: at night, do the same thing, but keep the blinds and curtains closed in front for privacy while keeping them open to the pretty parts of the yard, thus making your living space look larger.
- Turn off all appliances and noise-makers such as the television, the radio, and anything that will distract the buyer’s attention from your home.
