What Your Decor Might be Saying To Buyers
March 26, 2007
Post Tags: buyers-eyes , mask-and-spear , Tucson Real Estate , tucson-home-as-commodity , Tucson-Home-for-Sale
We see a lot of homes in the course of a week.
When we are in those homes, what we see there often tells us a lot about the people that live there.
We were in a home this weekend that was so nicely decorated I just took photos .
I could tell they like:
- roosters,
- birds,
- flowers,
- fresh fruit,
- red.
The place was warm and inviting and made you feel at home as soon as you stepped in the front door.
I don’t expect this home to be on the market long. I think they even baked bread before we got there. The old fresh bread smell to turn on the olfactory buy endorphins.
Their decoration tell a lot about the home and the way they live. I’m sure these people would be surprised if I meet them and told them what I had learned just from showing their home.
This next images comes from the home of a world traveler. He has been everywhere. The books on his shelves are about languages and places all over the world.
I’m sure he is quite at home with his home decor, but when you put your home on the market it is time to look at your home in a different manner.
When your home goes up for sale it is now a commodity on the market. You are trying to find a buyer for your commodity.
These buyers don’t have the memories associated with your “Stuff” that you do. There were masks hanging all over the house which were put in a closet.
However, this mask and spear was firmly attached to the wall. I know there are some people that will see this and back right out the door with their fingers making the shape of a cross.
When you put your home on the market it is time to look at your decor with “Buyer’s Eyes”.
March 28th, 2007 at 11:46 am
Dave, great blog on decor- your photos were great for those less imaginative types
It is truly surprising how foreign of a concept this is for home sellers. It seems almost insulting to some people when they are told how to stage a home (gee, that 8′ nude painting of my wife should come down? But, it’s art!). A trick that we often use is to take sellers to a builder’s model and let them take a peek at a simply decorated home; that usually gets the point across.
The following tips are pretty standard when we assist sellers staging their homes:
(1) Pack all but a few knick knacks- they are personal to you, but buyers are buying the house, not your voo doo collection.
(2) Angle furniture in a flattering way, not just against the wall (if it can be helped).
(3) During tours or open houses, PUT YOUR PETS AWAY!!! Nothing is more distracting than an allergy-inducing fur ball or a smelly, blame-worthy wet dog.
(4) Bake cookies (or bread as you so beautifully narrated about) before any open house and make sure the home is cleaned before open houses.
Dave, keep on pioneering your advice- it is truly helpful to the REALTOR, buyer and ultimately the seller!
March 28th, 2007 at 11:51 am
More good points and ideas. Thanks for dropping by and sharing these great tips for sellers.
March 31st, 2007 at 6:57 am
LOL….I have masks all over my house. I’ve been to over 40 countries, and believe it or not most of them have some sort of tribal mask at some point in their history. So, I started a collection.
If I try to sell I’ll take them down….
March 31st, 2007 at 7:02 am
Jonathan,
I once had a friend who had a black widow spider living in her AC vent pipe.
It had been there long enough she didn’t think anything of it.
It’s amazing what can become a normal part of life for some will scare others completely.
Absolutely, if you try to sell. . . take them down.
May 26th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
I think cookies and bread or good BUT buy 2 frozen pies, bake them while you are doing a 2 hour open house, leave one for the seller to have with his/her supper and take the other one home for your supper. This will make so many people happy.
May 26th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Valerie,
That is a great idea. I love pie. : )