If you are selling your home, you already think you know how to be the right house for your buyers. You have a pretty good idea why someone will buy your home. And then using the art of home staging and having a professional come in and stage and style your home to have that Model Home Look, is the icing on the cake.
It’s a long standing proven fact that staged homes sell faster and for more money. Staged homes seem more turn-key to buyers and if done correctly, present that emotional feeling that makes buyers want to live there.
Why will someone buy your home?
But when I ask sellers why someone will buy their home, I get the same answers over and over again,..
- We’re in a great school district
- We’re on a cul-de-sac
- It’s an open floor plan
- We have a finished basement with another bedroom down there
- The neighbors are awesome
- The neighborhood is very active for families with kids
- The location is perfect and has easy access to everything
Everybody says that. While all of those things are important, none of them matter unless it’s the right house.
What is the right house?
Most buyers look at dozens of houses before finally getting one that actually speaks to them. And since the pandemic, many buyers decided they really don’t like the house they bought as much as they thought. In all actuality, it was the “one they could get.”
Many buyers in the past couple of years made offer after offer before finally getting their offer accepted. Personally, I worked with buyers that actually got to the point of making an offer on every house that came on the market in their price range. At some point, all those things buyers thought they had to have somehow became less important.
But now that the market has slowed down a bit and adjusted somewhat mainly due to increasing interest rates, many houses are staying on the market longer. Actually, the average days on the market in Johnson County, from list date to contract date is well over 30 days. We are back to a market I’ve experienced in my 35 years of being a Realtor.
How to be the right house for your buyers
We are finally getting back to sellers having to do a bit more upfront in preparation to attract the right buyer that will make the right offer for the right house. As a result, the right house must speak to those buyers and make them feel like they want to live there.
The real estate transaction is becoming more personal once again and less transactional. Buyers want to have those feelings about a house as they pull up outside and walk through the front door. I call that the 10 Second Rule. Your buyers will make a decision about buying your home within 10 seconds of walking through your front door. It’s like the 1st impression rose on the Bachelor. Those feelings are either there or they aren’t. And as a seller, you’d better hope everyone that walks through your door feels that way about your house.
Home Staging is more important now than ever with an ever changing real estate market. This is the must have prelim to the photo shoot and will attract the most number of buyers. Don’t overlook the 3 step process of de-cluttering, depersonalizing and then letting your home stager rearrange and style your things for the right flow through your house. That’s how to be the right house for your buyers.
When buyers feel themselves living in your home, they will buy it faster and pay you more money for it every time!
For more information about our real estate services, visit Melinda Bartling Real Estate and Home Staging. We detail and style your home using your own things so it attracts the largest number of buyers, therefore selling faster and for more money! Cha-ching.
Call or text Melinda direct at (913) 515-3250 or contact us here to schedule an appointment or for a quick 15 minute call to see how our strategies make you more money when selling your home.