How To Boost A Home's Presentation To Attract Homebuyers

Presentation is one of the three most important aspects determining how quickly a home will sell.

Much like the organic produce piled neatly in handy bins at the grocery store, and the way the makeup is displayed on the mirrored counters at the department store, it is important to be thoughtful and creative regarding the house's presentation during an open house.

Here are three examples of choices to consider to improve the presentation of a house before an open house:

Make sure you are presenting potential buyers with a clean house. The grocery store doesn’t let streaks of ooze and seeds trail down from rotten tomatoes in display cases. The department store doesn’t allow broken chunks of lipstick to linger on the mirrored counters. No way!

They are both cleaned daily if not more frequently.

This must be a similar approach an agent must take before hosting an open house.  Clean the counters, carpets, cabinets, closets, doors, drawers, mirrors, windows, drapes, blinds, and everything else.

It is also important to take note of the other adjustments you may need the homeowner to make in addition to cleaning. As an agent, you need to instruct the homeowner if he or she needs to repair or replace items, remove wall paper, repaint, and/or re-carpet. Noticeable stains, scratches, chips, tears, and gaping holes in the dry wall are mental triggers to a buyer that you’re presenting damaged goods.

Today’s buyers expect perfection, and when the presentation is something less than that, they begin to deduct from their opinion of your house’s value and create resistance to even making an offer.

Stage the home properly. De-clutter and de-personalize are the first steps in this approach. Then you have to arrange and accent. It is critical for an agent to stage the home that is on the market properly and strategically. 

And lastly, as an agent, it is your job to capture the features of the home through photographs. 

A professional photographer who specializes in shooting homes for sale is essential to the presentation of the house.

These pros have wide angle lenses, special flash attachments and those lighting umbrellas.

They also have the know how to shoot the bathrooms without the glare from the mirrors and how to diffuse the blazing sun coming into your kitchen window.

And consider a drone. A video of your sparkling clean, strategically staged house will boost the presentation to the pool of buyers to the next level.

Courtesy of: OC Register