What’s that mean to you as a seller?
Lower prices and slower sales are what we think of first in this “Buyer’s Market”.  That is exactly right in some cases, but the truth is that some homes sell quickly at the asking price while others do not.  What’s the difference, and how can you successfully sell your home in today’s market? Next to that important question of price, the most important fact in a buyer’s market is that buyers have more choices in selecting a home to buy. Presenting your home so that a buyer selects your home over the others available is more important than ever before.  Let me present some things to consider that experience tells us have always been important in selling your home.  Today, they are the critical differences in success.

How Can I Help a Buyer Choose  My Home to Buy?
Here are five important marketing considerations, followed by a brief discussion based on our past experiences.  View them from a buyers perspective and discuss with your listing agent how they might affect the sale of your home.  Many of these factors are under your control and often at a cost well below dropping your selling price.

1.  Buying a home is an emotional experience.
2.  You only get one chance to make a first impression.
3.  Living in our homes is different than presenting them for sale.
4.  Your home must appeal to all qualified buyers.
5.  Pay me now or pay me later.

Buying a home is an emotional experience.
Every potential buyer for your home is a different person.  They see the world and your home from their own perspective.  One thing that is pretty consistent, though, is that the emotions your home evokes are a very important part of their buying decision.  Realtors often call it the “WOW” factor.  Even the most analytical, linear thinking buyer often makes a comment like “There’s just something about that home that I like.  I’m not sure what it is, but I keep coming back to it.”  You and your Realtor need to optimize that emotional response and minimize any negative impressions.  Put yourself in the buyer’s shoes and look for the WOWs in your home.  Does a burning fireplace and an open book on the couch make a difference for a showing?  Of course they do!  Appeal to all the senses, sight, sound, smell and touch.  Remember, you are appealing indirectly to a buyer’s emotions. either from an ad or a drive by.  Do you have a professional sales staff answering the phone calls on your home?  Is your home easy to show, even on a short notice?  Is your front door freshly painted?  Is your home priced right?  All of these things create a first impression.   In a buyer’s market, potential buyers often don’t come back! Consider with your Realtor all the factors for a first impression – a poor presentation is very hard to overcome.

Living in our homes is different than presenting them for sale.
We all make our homes comfortable to live in, and that often means we have far too much “stuff”.  Living with it all every day causes us to lose the perspective of how a potential buyer will see it.  The sad truth is that many buyers have very little imagination.  If a room has too much furniture in it, it just looks small.  They really can’t (or won’t) see it with their own furniture. That goes for closets, counter tops, bathrooms, storage spaces, garages, and basements – all of it.  So what to do?  The best money you will ever spend is to rent a temporary storage space or find a friend’s garage.  Pack and store (somewhere else – not your garage) as much of your “stuff” as you can live without.  Then have the mover make two stops. You need to pack it anyway before you move!  Remember, you are selling your house – not your lifestyle! Let your potential buyers see it as their home.  Make sure your Realtor is nice to you, but hard on your house!  It makes a difference.

You only get one chance to make a first impression.
The obvious thing is that your home must “sparkle”. Professional deep cleaning (with windows) and yard work are spring time activities for most of us.  That’s fine if you are selling your home in the spring, but in any season, it has to be as perfect as you can reasonably make it.  Remember there are lots of homes out there and your buyer will compare!  First impressions begin when your potential buyer makes that first call,

Your home must appeal to all qualified buyers.
In a buyer’s market, we simply cannot afford to turn our backs on potential buyers that may see things differently from us.  Let’s consider that deer antler hanging above the fireplace that we are so very proud of - it has to go! Turning off an avid anti-hunter (remember it’s an emotional experience) can lose a sale, and their money spends just as well, regardless of what we may think about their worldview.  Easy, right?  Consider pets.  My 120 pound dog owns the house. She has a doggy door and goes where she wants, when she wants.  We constantly clean up after her muddy prints, but she’s family!  When it’s time to sell, the doggy door and all traces of her living in the house have to go, and she has to take a vacation somewhere nice.  As strange as they might be, there are people who don’t think animals should live in a house.  OK, I don’t have to agree with that to sell them my house.  Get the point? It’s hard sometimes, but in a buyer’s market your home must appeal to any potential buyer.  Consider how your home will show to all others. Take a hard look at your collectables, pictures and decorating.  Would a Yankee fan be turned off by your extensive collection of Cardinal memorabilia?  Your expensive gun collection?  Booze at the bar?  Let your Realtor help you eliminate the potential negatives and present your home to any qualified buyer. 

Pay me now or pay me later.
Most of our homes have maintenance items that could be done.  Even a brand new home can have a large “to do” list.  It is important to consider how much preparation to do on your property to get it ready for sale.  Major improvements to increase a home’s value should be carefully considered with your Realtor and possibly a contractor before they are undertaken.  Minor maintenance items, however, should be completed before your home is listed in a buyer’s market.  It’s part of making it “sparkle.”  Allowances for work that needs to be done, like replacing tile and carpet or painting is just a bad idea, and may result in far less of a return on your home compared to doing them or paying a handyman to do them ahead of time.  You should carefully consider with your Realtor the effect of the home inspection process.  Fixing a probable problem before a home inspection is best because you have time and control over the repair.   Dealing with an inspection item after the home is under contract with a buyer can be more expensive and frustrating.  It may gall you to fix something like a leaking faucet that you have lived with for years because it is not a big problem.  It can easily become a big problem if the buyer makes your sale contingent on it being repaired.  Discuss with your realtor having a pre-home inspection and offering a home warranty before you list your home.  Make your home “move-in ready” in a buyer’s market.

Homes sell in a buyer’s market! Work with me to make sure your home is one of the first to sell among those on the market. Contact me anytime for a “Real Estate Highest Price Analysis” of your home and a preview of how it will show to potential buyers.  I’ll take the time, and I don’t mind.