I recently had the opportunity to sit down with a young man who was ready to sell his home. He didn’t want to do anything to the house, and was convinced it could be sold “as is” and while true...I knew by keeping it “as is” he would be leaving tens of thousands of dollars on the table.
So as a Gen X-er, I had to explain things to him in a way I knew only a Millennial would understand 😉
As he had recently been online looking at apartments in another state, I openly guessed that most listings did not catch his attention and that he probably went through the options rather quickly. I imitated him swiping through the entries:
“No.” Swipe-left. “No.” Swipe-left. “No.” Swipe-left. “Ohhhhhhhhh, okay…” Swipe-right. While that analogy may just be for Tinder, I still got a smile out of him as he understood where I was going.
I then went on to explain to him that selling your home is a numbers game.
In order to get the highest amount of offers possible, we had to get the highest amount of people in his home, and in order to get the highest amount of people to make appointments to see his home, I needed them to be “wowed” by the pictures.
Although it wouldn’t take much, I explained that we needed to make his home “swipe-right worthy”. Doing this would give us the perfect opportunity to squeeze every penny out of his house.
And wouldnt-ya-know-it, he agreed 😉
What I’m getting at is that if you were wondering about the importance of staging, you’re not alone.
A lot of sellers, at first, don’t see the importance. In fact, after giving my sellers a to-do list, many of them ask me why they should be decluttering or painting their home in one neutral color, and most importantly, why they can’t just put their house on the market exactly as it is.
And I want to share with you the same thing I share with them: once your home is put on the market, it is no longer your home. It is a product; competing with other products. And, if you wish to receive Top Dollar for your product, then you need to make it look its absolute best.
Remember that according to Barbara Corcoran, founder of The Corcoran Group, a real estate brokerage in New York City worth nearly $66 million, noticed after years of helping sellers that buyers decide in the very first eight seconds of seeing a home whether or not they're interested in buying it.
My guess is that online...that goes down to one or two seconds.
Which is why you must make sure your house is swipe-right worthy, because once you’ve lost that buyer, you’ve lost them. They are on to the next house.
Buyers that don’t like what they see online, will never make an appointment to see the home in person. Buyers that don’t like what they see in person will never place an offer.
So tell me, is your home swipe-right worthy?
Not sure? Reach out to me today for a free assessment and consultation on getting you ready to cash-in on your biggest investment!