Our clients who list with us always want us to be on the cutting edge and giving them new ideas on how to promote their home best. Some things we have noticed happening:
1) Homes need to be fresh and appear coastal and modern — all of the sudden, no one even considers it ok to have to paint a room or re-wall paper. That is why home staging and having the home appear “perfect,” and “move in” have become the new standard on all homes.
2) Uncluttered. Gone are the days when extra photos or a warm and comfy lived in feel would be overlooked. Buyers today want a hotel feeling–one of neutrality in color, odor, and feel. Buyers want to feel pampered and emotionally comfortable right from the first step in the door.
3) Fresh smelling. Odor is a key unconscious/sub-conscious factor in home sales. It is the area where women, especially, in home shopping –need to know the home is “Safe” for their families. Often we recommend airing out a home –keeping windows open if that is possible and turning the air conditioning down very low during home showings.
How do we handle situations with clients wishing to sell homes that need help getting to that level of what we call “saleabililty?” through the above 3 factors?
We often take a step back, and slow down the listing process. After all, we are Home Counselors first, before Salesperson. So we go in, take a look around and a smell around–and counsel the owners on how they can market their home for top dollar.
Sometimes doing a quick change of paint color –interior or exterior does the trick. Other times it is bringing in furnishings and rearranging existing furnishings in homes. We lighten it up and remove items that seem too much for the new buyers.
Mostly, we want to make sure that the homes look “buttoned” up. This means from the front step to the backyard, there aren’t any striking areas of concern from our knowledge of what buyers want.
If a seller is on a very strict budget, and cannot do any changes to the home–we then adjust the price to a fair level, where a buyer may be feeling good about purchasing and putting some sweat equity into their new home!
The author is Carolyn Mac Evoy, Broker of Mac Evoy Real Estate Co., a 2nd generation real estate firm, started in NJ and continued in Florida. Should you be needing housing or commercial property or farm land in Florida, please contact her at: carolyn@macevoy.org or by calling 772.925.4791.