For 90% of the home buyers out there, deciding to put an offer in on a home is an emotional decision.
Very rarely is it strictly a practical, financial decision. The decision to buy a home is driven more by emotion. There is something or a lot of things home buyers love about the home they buy.
Many of my home buyers view between 10-15 homes before pulling the trigger on a home. Never mind the countless homes they may have reviewed on the internet.
From the moment a buyer gets the thought to buy a house, a house is being compared to a few or even many other homes in the real estate market.
From capturing a buyers attention on the web, to getting them into your home, to have them write an offer…. what are you going to do to make your house compelling?
Your Home is Competing
It is important to realize your home is in competition with other homes in the marketplace. Buyers don’t quit looking if your home didn’t suit their needs.
When a buyer views your home and decides not to buy your home, they have not found your house compelling enough to put in an offer.
And, on top of it, many of those buyers will then go on to buy another house you are competing with in a very short period of time.
Yes, they have rejected your house and have gone on to buy one of your competing homes which the buyer found more compelling.
This is why it is so important to pay attention to the comparable homes when trying to properly price your home for your real estate market. First and foremost you want the square footage to be relatively close, in the same or like neighborhood and have sold with in the past 6 months with similar features, amenities and condition.
What Makes Your Home Compelling and Outshine the Competition
So what makes a home compelling? There are a bunch of reasons a home is compelling but we are going to talk about the few biggies that will make a home compelling to a large group of buyers out hopefully stand out.
Price
Price has a lot to do with what makes a home compelling. A home could be compelling to a large pool of buyers at $340,000 but at $380,000 very few will be interested.
First and foremost your home needs to be in the proper price bracket to be compelling. Without being priced according to what the market will bear your home will sit on the market unsold.
Location
Most buyers want the same thing. They want a home on a street that ends in a cul-de-sac or a neighborhood where only people who live in the neighborhood come and go. The farther you get away from that the less compelling your house will be for many homebuyers.
Understand buyers may not be looking in your town alone. They could be looking for home in nearby communities that have similar homes in their price range, which can definitely broaden your competition.
You can’t fix the location. The only way you can address a less-than-desirable location is by adjusting the price. Be realistic about the location of your home compared to the competing homes in your market.
Condition
When buyers shell out $400,000 or $500,000 on a home they do not usually want to move in and have to start making large repairs. Leading the pack in the condition of a home is roofs, electrical and HVAC. All of these items are major expenses as well as repairs that can’t be ignored.
A home in great condition impresses buyers. The thought of moving into a home and not spending weeks or months or even years of improvements is very compelling. Most buyers love a move-in-ready home
Look around do any major repairs need to be done? What about a bunch of little things? A pre-listing home inspection can provide you with a list of items that you may want to consider repairing to show your home has been well cared for.
Level of Updates
Kitchen and bath remodel or renovations are major projects that can be quite costly. But for many home buyers, nothing is more compelling than a buyer walking into a home with an updated kitchen, with current countertops, flooring and a great workflow.
But it can go farther than just kitchen and baths. Updated colors in your home can go a long way. Not only are updated color choices compelling on the wall it carries thru to carpets, decor, appliances, fixtures etc…
While your home could have good bones and be in great shape, the level and quality of the updates add the sizzle you need to compel buyers to buy.
The updates you have done or do to your home to get it listed are totally in your control. You can do the updates or adjust your price accordingly.
Home Staging and Decor
This is kind of a broad category but it covers everything that puts your house in the best showing condition possible from an aesthetics standpoint. It covers your home’s curb appeal, cleaning your home from top to bottom to make it sparkle, to depersonalizing and neutralizing your home as well as de-cluttering, packing up and fixing all the little nuisance repairs
The goal of home staging is to make your home appeal to the broadest amount of buyers possible. Besides preparing your home with the basics of cleaning de-cluttering and such… it could require removing furniture and decorative items as well as potentially re-arranging furniture to highlight the features and benefits of your home.
Again this is something completely in your control. The more effort you put into preparing your home the more you will get out of the sale of your home. Use this home preparation checklist to get your catch a buyer’s attention and make your home compelling.
So Is Your Home Compelling?
The first thing to remember when getting ready to list your home is that your home will be in competition with other homes for sale. Your home needs to stand out and be compelling to home buyers.
When you hear of homes that have multiple offers the first few days on the market they have a good balance of what I have laid out as to what makes a home compelling. They are market leaders.
Most of what makes a home compelling is completely in your control except for location which you adjust accordingly in your pricing.
As a seller it is easy to let emotion take control thinking your house is special. While your house is special to you it also must be special or “compelling” to a buyer. At the end of the day it is the buyer that decides what a fair price is for your home when they step up to the table and pay a price you are willing to accept.
A home really sells itself based on price, location, condition, updates and it’s showing preparedness.
Other Real Estate Resources:
- Maria Matrolonardo Selling Your Home With Home Staging
- Bill Gassett Why My Home Hasn’t Sold
- Lynn Pineda 41 Mistakes that Prevented Your Home From Selling
- Teresa Cowart How to Position Your Home For Top Dollar
Is Your Home Compelling? How Does It Stack Up To the Competition? is provided by Kevin Vitali of EXIT Group One Real Estate of Tewksbury MA. If you would like to sell your home give me a call at 978-360-0422 and let’s get the process started.
Real Estate Services in the following areas: Northeast Massachusetts, Merrimack Valley, North Shore and Metrowest. Including the following communities and the surrounding area- Amesbury, Andover, Billerica, Burlington, Chelmsford, Dracut, Groveland, Haverhill, Lowell, Melrose, Merrimac, Methuen, Middleton, North Andover, North Reading, Reading, Stoneham, Tewksbury, Tyngsborough, Wakefield, Wilmington, Westford
