Why you need to think like a buyer when trying to sell your home
How you look for a property to buy is how a buyer will look at your property when trying to sell. How does your property marketing compare to those that you have looked at? Would you call to arrange a viewing or scroll straight past? Read this article to learn how to think like a buyer when selling your home.
If you've already started your search for a new place to call home, you will no doubt have spent some time scrolling through the property websites, enquiring with estate agents and perhaps even ventured out for some viewings. During these processes, you will make judgements, sometimes instantly, and sometimes slower, more considered judgements, but there is no getting away from it; you will judge each property.
And if you have got as far as getting your own home on the market for sale, it is a fact that potential viewers will be judging your home too. There is no getting away from it. It is an inevitable part of selecting a new property. You and your family might look at hundreds of homes online, discounting them quickly, and those that appeal to you will make it into your shortlist. Only some who make it onto the shortlist will progress to a real-life physical viewing appointment.
So, the presentation of your property, from the very beginning, in your online marketing must be as good as it can possibly be. You want your home to shine in amongst the busy marketplace so that you make the cut from idle scrolling to the shortlist and then, hopefully, to a full viewing appointment. This is the primary goal of online marketing.
So, how can you ensure your home makes the right impression to potential buyers?
Start by looking at your home objectively as if you were the buyer. Consider the approach to the property - is your front garden overgrown? Is the pathway to the entrance clear? Are there cobwebs on the door or chips in the paint? These are all things that can be easily fixed and will significantly improve the first impression of your property.
In retail, managers are taught to walk around once every hour to see the store as a customer sees it. They are tasked with making sure that the sales experience is the same for every customer and that the shop is welcoming and inviting. It is exactly the same for your home when trying to attract a buyer.
So, walk down the street towards your house with a buyers' mindset - what will they see? How does the property look to you? Is there anything you could do to improve that first impression?
You can then carry out the same process for every room in your home. As we see our homes every single day, we can become blind to certain things - a pile of post still to be sorted on the worktop or a cardboard box that needs to be taken to the recycling. It is easy to overlook the fact that you have hundreds of Tupperware boxes stuffed onto the top of the fridge freezer (Probably with no lids that match!) And in reality, whilst none of these things are catastrophic, they will not attract a buyer either.
Ultimately, we are looking to make a fantastic first impression, both with the online marketing and photography and the impression made when a viewer comes to view the property. If your home is a little cluttered or there are odd jobs here and there that you've been meaning to get around to, you could be putting off a viewer without even realizing it. However, these are simple and affordable fixes. Wouldn't it be a shame to miss out on a buyer for something as small as clipping back an overgrown hedge or tidying the top of your fridge!? It is simple to sort out and shouldn't cost you any money, but it could get you a sale.
If you are trying to sell your home but have had no luck, get in touch with our team, who will be happy to guide you towards the perfect property presentation and get you moved.