Let go of your home. It is a product for a buyer.

The marketplace will reward you for letting go of sentimental feelings now, as apposed to when the new owner takes the keys.

There are a number of things buyers appreciate we will teach you. These things might not necessarily be the way you prefer your home. Yet the marketplace consistently rewards sellers who listen to and embrace buyer preferences.

Role play as a buyer

Getting your home sold requires understanding buyers. Most people think buyers just want an affordable home so they only focus on price.

Think, what do buyers really want? What do they have available to them to purchase? What condition are other homes in? Lastly, how much do other homes cost?

Search for other homes on the market: Think how much you would like to get for your home when you sell it. Take this number punch it into a Real Estate Search Engine (Zillow, Trulia, Realtor, Redfine, etc).

Next, preview your own home as a buyer: Get a pad and pen. Walk into your home as though you are viewing it for the first time. As though it’s the next home you might buy. Be completely brutal on yourself. Look at any reason why you wouldn’t buy your home. Write it on the pad.

Look at home similar to yours under your given price. See are there homes that offer more than ours? What conditions are those homes in? Where are they located?

Buyers will purchase the less expensive homes give your feature set or better (number of bedrooms, bathrooms, stories, garage spaces, etc).

Think Convenience

Price of precut watermellon versus an entire watermellon.

People love convenience. Ever go to the grocery store and buy the pre-cut watermelon? Notice how much more expensive it is than a whole watermelon. Why not cut it yourself?

You need to think like this when you sell your home. What can I do to make it more convenient for the buyer to purchase? More convenient to move into? More convenient to preview? etc…

As you are walking around your home, write down things that need maintenance. Things that need cleaned. Projects you left unfinished such as the backyard landscaping.

One clear example is vacant homes sell better. I see on average they sell for 2% more than occupied homes. This is simply a matter of convenience to buyers who are able to preview on their own schedule.

Vacating your home before it goes on the market is not always an option. However, you need to be thinking of convenience.

Presentation presentation presentation

Ugly home our client transformed into a HOT product with our guidance. Then raised the list price $14,500 and sold.

Presentation is paramount. You can put every effort into selling your home but if the listing pictures are ugly then nobody will look at it.

Think of the ugliest home you found searching listings as a buyer. That home will not sell well. It is no secret, buyers want to be wowed, dazzled, and romanced by your home. They want to walk in and be filled with good emotions.

Homes that show well, sell the best. You can clearly see this by looking at the top sale in each neighborhood. It is almost always updated, tastefully furnished, and nicely decorated.

This was an ugly home my client remodelled. Then sold for over twice what they originally paid, and became the top sale for that neighborhood.

I want you to search those tops sales. Write down what excites you emotionally along with what emotion it elicits. Sales is an emotional process. It is not about dollars and cents. It is romance, it is exciting, it is a roller-coaster of positive emotions.

You too can be a top sale. Browse the tutorials on my website and let’s have some fun getting your home ready for the market.