HOW TO SELL IN A SOFTER MARKET
Generating the right emotional response is critical to make a sale, Dennis Faulkner writes.
Most of us have heard the basics of preparing your home for sale — decluttering, cleaning and depersonalizing. These are important, and it can be helpful to clarify the actual reason for doing these things: to generate an emotional response.
A home has to feel right to a prospective buyer to attract an offer. Buyers buy on emotion and then rationalize their decision afterwards. Often, buyers can’t put their finger on what exactly it is abut the property that draws them to it, but they do know it feels right. If I had a penny for every time this moment occurred in my career I would have … still not enough to retire — but I would have a very heavy bag of pennies.
The process of preparing your home for sale can sometimes be a little daunting, and you do have some challenges ahead. The first challenge is familiarity. If you’ve lived in your home for several years you’ve stopped noticing certain things that others will notice when viewing your home for the first time. That scraped-up corner, the paint splatter on the baseboard, the cracked tile by the fridge — none of these may stick out to you, but are glaring maintenance items to new buyers.
Teaming up with a professional realtor — who works with buyers on a daily basis and is in tune with the tastes and preferences of buyers in today’s market — can be a big help on sorting out what to do and what not to do. Some things simply don’t have a payback, while other changes can have a remarkable payback.
Second, a principle in real estate that should be top of mind while preparing your home for sale is the principle of conformity. When the whole property is in similar condition you have a greater opportunity to receive maximum value. For example, if you do a full renovation on a basement while your main level is dated, it is unlikely you will even receive your investment back, let alone see any return.
If your kitchen is in good repair, uncluttered and clean but the bathrooms are not, it is unlikely you will be generating any of that wonderful emotional response that opens up the chequebook. The principle of conformity applies to the whole presentation of the property, including cleanliness, decluttering and general condition.
IMPORTANCE OF THE FIRST IMPRESSION
First impressions are critically important as it sets the mood for the entire showing. Good curb appeal will make a big difference. Power washing the front of your home, removing spider webs, dead plants and other clutter, touching up trim, and neatly trimming your lawn top the list. It is often said that the first 30 seconds in the home will make or break a sale and there is a lot of truth to this. So if you have limited time and resources, start here.
Next, focus on the entryway and the part of your house that buyers are going to see first. This is part of the first impression, that initial 30 seconds. A full renovation is often not necessary to maximize return on your investment. Cleaning, decluttering, small repairs, staging and even painting can provide an exceptional return on investment (and yes, paint a neutral colour, and a general rule of thumb is to go lighter than you first think).
Depersonalizing allows a buyer to see themselves in your home, and not to just see you in your home. Take down the wall of family photos and your collection of heirloom knicknacks and replace them with neutral pictures or decorative items. Think ‘show home’ — not blank walls and spaces, but areas that will appeal to the majority of buyers. If you can’t get rid of your stuff or rent a storage space, then at least make a space in a corner of a basement or in your garage for it to be neatly stacked.
PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL
From a buyer’s perspective, how bright your home is will make a big difference. Ensure windows are cleaned both inside and out. Before every showing, open the curtains fully and turn on all the lights. Replace every burnt-out light bulb, and if you have a dark space or an unlit/ poorly lit room consider bringing in lamps or other lighting. As we progress to the darkness of winter, this will become more important (sorry for that reminder). It’s better to have a $5 increase in your power bill than to have a dark, dingy house.
And that brings us to general maintenance. Remember those items you may overlook? It might be OK for you to see that broken baseboard, but remember that buyers typically overestimate up to five times the cost of repairs. If you want top dollar, fix the little things. Attention to detail can convey to the buyer that you have taken care of your home.
Quality photography and videography to showcase your home, along with a good realtor with a solid marketing plan, can really help you get that top dollar and sell quickly, putting more money in your pocket. The difference in price you receive can be thousands of dollars, sometimes tens of thousands, and time on market can be cut by months when your home is well prepared for buyers.
My next column will deal with how to price your home. Without proper pricing, everything you do to prepare and market your home may all be for not, so stay tuned.