Dear Bloggers: it’s been a fast and furious year for our team. By the end of March, we will have listed 100 homes for sale in Raleigh, Cary and the surrounding Triangle area. We also will have turned down 30 to 50 listings. Right now is the ‘prime time” for serious home owners to sell their homes. All of our listings are experiencing increased showings because of the mass marketing we do on the internet. Increased showings always mean increased sales.
When most sellers list their home for sale the first thing they think about is how much will I get and that is usually followed by how soon will I get the money. It's certainly understandable that those two concerns are, most often, top of mind. After all, you're likely selling your home to buy another one or invest the money in something else.
But, if as a seller, you can get into the buyer's mindset, the sale of your home can come faster and for more money.
Understanding the way buyers think involves seeing things not from your perspective but from your potential buyer's mindset. It can sound easy but actually it's often harder to do than most sellers think. The psychology of buying is driven by emotional experiences, money, and timing. With that in mind, sellers can help create optimal circumstances that literally help walk the buyer through the process and completion of the sale of your home.
It starts with a feeling. When you meet someone for the first time, you form a first impression based on a feeling. That's exactly what happens when buyers set foot into your home. Working with our home staggers and our experienced agent(s) is a great way to learn exactly what kind of impression your home is giving off. If it's a small home, make sure it's not overfilled and cluttered.
Pick up all the loose clutter that's floating around. Throw out old magazines. People like to see things that are streamlined or clean or fresh looking. There's nothing worse than walking into a place and seeing a stack of magazines all over the place or an unmade bed.
Go the extra step and take care of items that might have been overlooked for quite some time. Steam clean the carpets, the upholstery, the furniture, if that's what's needed. Have the windows cleaned, light fixtures cleaned. Make it feel clean when you walk in.
Go back to basics. You may love your turquoise carpet but do you really think buyers will? Getting inside the buyers mind will help you answer these questions. You can also pick up home décor magazines and see what appeals to the masses. You don't have to change everything in your home, but going back to basics in a few areas will help buyers see how your home can become their home.
As soon as buyers see a really loud red, orange or lemon-green color they automatically think about re-doing. That, of course, means the buyers are already beginning to calculate the amount of money they need to take off of the sale price in order to get the home in the condition they would like it.
If instead you stick with neutral colors such as painting the walls off-white, light beige or Navajo white, you have a better chance in preserving the sale price.
Repair anything that looks torn, worn or broken If you walked into a retail store and saw a garment that you liked but it was torn or missing buttons, chances are you'd search for another one or ask for a discount if that were the only one of its kind.
That's what buyers will do with your home when they spot torn screens, garage doors that don't open, or broken light fixtures that are hanging out of the wall. Buyers, if at first they don't get completely turned off and walk away from the sale, will first begin to think that there is more damage to the home than what they're able to see and then they start to calculate the cost of repairing those damages. But buyers often exaggerate the amount of money needed to fix the repairs.
In today's market people are looking desperately to find out what's wrong with a home so that they can lower the price.
In the buyers' minds, they come up with some kind of incredible price to fix repairs. In their mind, they go way overboard and eventually it affects the bottom line price for the seller.
Don't miss an opportunity to get the word out about your home being listed for sale. It only makes sense to let your neighbors know. By doing this your neighbor’s can sometimes become great facilitators and supporters of the sale.
Most people are visual buyers. If the home doesn't look clean, spotless, and repaired then the buyer thinks what's behind the walls, how much more money do I have to put into this home.
Remember understanding the psychology of the buyer's mindset can help you sell faster and for the price you really want.
This is a challenging market for home sellers, but using all our resources to help our sellers sell their home, we’ve already closed or placed 75 homes under contract this year. Whether you are buying or selling a home in the Triangle, it is in your best interest to work with the very best agent to represent you. Our team would like to apply for the job!
Call or e-mail marti@martihampton.com with any questions. Thanks , mh
