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 South Bend, IN

Latitude: 41.672597 -- Longitude: -86.255157

Other Area Cities: Elkhart Mishawaka South Bend Goshen

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South Bend is a city in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 107,789; its metropolitan area had a population of 316,663. It is the fourth largest city in Indiana. The city is the county seat of St. Joseph CountyGR6. It is the economic and cultural hub of the region commonly known as Michiana. South Bend was initially laid out in 1831 as the county seat and as one of the four original townships of St. Joseph County. Around 128 people lived in the area at the time, mostly fur traders, merchants, and innkeepers. South Bend was organized as a town in 1835 and was incorporated as a city in 1865. During the late 1830s through the 1850s, much of South Bend's development centered around the industrial complex of factories located on the two races (man-made canals along the St. Joseph River in South Bend). -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Indiana 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	South Bend	Indiana	United States
Population	107,789	6,080,485	281,421,906
Median age	32.7	35.2	35.3
Median age for Male	30.8	33.9	34
Median age for Female	34.7	36.5	36.5
Households	42,908	2,336,306	105,480,101
Household population	104,972	5,902,331	273,643,273
Average household size	2.45	2.53	2.59
Families	25,956	1,602,501	71,787,347
Average family size	3.12	3.05	3.14
Housing units	46,349	2,532,319	115,904,641
Occupied units	42,908	2,336,306	105,480,101
Vacant units	3,441	196,013	10,424,540

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