As a seller, how do you obtain the most amount of money for your home in the least amount of time?
Merchandising is a critical part of the home selling process. It is presenting your home to the market to maximize the numbers of buyers who will consider it. Merchandising includes all facets of your preparation for sale, as well as the property presentation, and on-site sales tools.
As you begin to consider selling your home, it is important to consider some important facts about the selling process:
- Most buyers are looking at homes on line before they even start working with an agent and even when working with an agent they are deciding which homes they want to visit by previewing them on line. You have about 10 seconds on line to make a good impression.
- Most buyers make their buying decision based on emotion, then justify that decision with logical, rational criteria.
- A buyer must mentally ‘Move into your home’ from the moment they drive up the driveway. Anything you can do to help them make this mental leap will increase the likelihood that an individual buyer will write an offer on your home.
- As a seller you need to focus on making room for the buyers- not your beautiful things that have made this house your home.
- “Staging” your home or merchandising the space so that it will appeal to the most number of buyers is an art form. Effective staging can and does increase sales price.
- Selecting what to keep -- what to pack -- what to move can be a daunting task but it is a very important part of the selling process.
Coordinating the preparation of your home for sale is an important part of the service we offer.
We know this is important to your ultimate sales price and are committed to helping you prepare your home so that potential purchasers and agents will be excited about your home.
Remember – you are moving out of your home and it’s becoming a new home to someone else. As you walk through your home, use these questions as a tool to help you see your home through the eyes of your buyer:
Does this room feel comfortable and inviting? Does this room feel spacious OR does this room feel small and cramped?
What does the furniture in this room do to enhance the feeling and size of this room?
What do the accent pieces and wall decorations do to enhance the feeling and size of this room?
Does this feel like my home ... OR ... does is feel like a space my buyer can make their own?
Your intent should be to prepare your home to become the home of your new buyer!
We recommend that you use the following criteria to decide which steps to take to prepare your home for sale:
- What must be corrected to meet the requirements of a lender?
- What should we fix that will increase our sales price - especially things that the buyer will double the cost of in their mind. The objective here is to do those things that bring you the most return for the dollars and time expended.
- What should we do to ‘sell’ our house - what will allow the buyer to mentally move into the house and make it theirs?
- Can we afford to do all of these things? What can we afford to do? -- This is a time and dollar question.
- What is a realistic timetable for completing these items?
- Do we need to hire others to complete some of this work?
- What is a realistic budget to accomplish this?
The first step is to have us come over and walk through your home, even years ahead of your potential sale, and get our ideas about the right repairs and improvements to make. When you are in the process of getting ready we will work with you to prepare a budget for repairs and work to merchandise your home. We have a network of contractors and helpers who we work with regularly. We do this frequently and are happy to help you coordinate the work. Our experience with what is realistic and practical helps you make your best decisions.
