Selling Your Home - Why Should Buyers Choose Yours?

November 20, 2008

Assuming certain factors are the same - such as location, amenities, approximate price range, features - what would entice a buyer to put an offer on your house instead of another in your subdivision?

It’s been my experience that most buyers lack imagination when it comes to looking at properties. They are effected by your decorating, your taste and how your home makes them feel. Only about 20% can detach themselves from your decorations and imagine their home in its place.

So how do you appeal to the 80% of buyers who want to walk into your house and feel at home?

The first step is to de-clutter your home. Any clutter translates into a read-between-the-lines detractor of “not enough storage space”. If you truly don’t have enough storage space for all of your possessions, treasured though they may be, then rent a small storage space. Go through your home and remove everything except the most flattering and visually appealing items. Your home does not want to look bare, but it needs to give the impressions of elegance and space.

The next step is to take care of any maintenance issues before you put the home on the market. You may be temped to say, “I’ll fix anything their home inspector finds”, but in my experience, your initial offer will be lower (or even non-existent) if the impression the buyers get is that you have not taken care of the home. So replace rotten wood, fix and paint damaged or grubby walls, replace torn or damaged flooring, service HVAC units before you call your real estate agent.

The final step is to thoroughly clean the home. Hire someone to help you do a deep spring cleaning - clean baseboards, polish mirrors, shampoo carpets. Make your home sparkle. Buyers will notice on a subconscious level that the home is clean. Why do you think new homes are so attractive to buyers? It’s because no-one’s dirt is there - it’s virgin and pristine.

Once you have listed the home, keep it clean and tidy. Make beds and put away dishes before you leave in the morning. So often I’ve tried to make appointments to show a home, and the seller has said that we’ll have to come back another day because they left the home in a mess that day. Normally there is no “another day”. So if there is a day you’ve had to run out in a hurry, take a deep breath and let it be shown anyway and hope that the buyers are the 20% that can imagine the dishes in their right place!

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Local Information for Tucson, AZ

Latitude: 32.214476 -- Longitude: -110.918192

Other Area Cities: Tucson Oro Valley

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Tucson (pronounced /'tus?n/, Spanish: Tucsón) is a city and the seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States, located 118 miles (188 km) southeast of Phoenix. As of July 1, 2005 a census estimate put the city's population at 521,605, and the metropolitan population at 931,210. By 2008 the city population is expected to exceed 610,000, while the metropolitan population is expected to exceed 1 million by spring 2007. In 2005 Tucson ranked as the 32nd-largest city and 52nd-largest metropolitan area in the U.S. It is the largest city in southern Arizona, and the second largest in the state after Phoenix, Arizona. Major incorporated suburbs of Tucson include Oro Valley and Marana northwest of the city, South Tucson (surrounded by Tucson), and Sahuarita south of the city. Communities in the vicinity of Tucson (some within or overlapping the city limits) include Casas Adobes, Catalina, Catalina Foothills, Flowing Wells, Green Valley, Tanque Verde, and Vail. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Arizona 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Tucson	Arizona	United States
Population	486,699	5,130,632	281,421,906
Median age	32.1	34.2	35.3
Median age for Male	30.8	32.9	34
Median age for Female	33.5	35.5	36.5
Households	192,891	1,901,327	105,480,101
Household population	467,517	5,020,782	273,643,273
Average household size	2.42	2.64	2.59
Families	112,515	1,287,367	71,787,347
Average family size	3.12	3.18	3.14
Housing units	209,609	2,189,189	115,904,641
Occupied units	192,891	1,901,327	105,480,101
Vacant units	16,718	287,862	10,424,540

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