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 Fishers, IN

Latitude: 39.956177 -- Longitude: -86.012754

Other Area Cities: Fishers Carmel Lawrence Meridian Hills Noblesville Rocky Ripple Williams Creek Wynnedale

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Fishers located in Hamilton County, Indiana, is a town of population 52,390 (according to a special census conducted in 2004). A suburb of Indianapolis, Fishers has grown rapidly in recent decades: about 350 people lived there in 1963, 2,000 in 1980, and only 7,200 as recently as 1990. Fishers was ranked the 24th best place to live in America by CNN Money magazine in 2005, and 33rd in 2006. The government of Fishers is led by a seven-member town council and a clerk-treasurer. The town council holds both legislative and executive powers while the clerk-treasurer is responsible for financial matters. All are elected at-large for four-year terms. The council elects a council president and vice president yearly. The council appoints and oversees a town manager who is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the town government. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Indiana 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Fishers	Indiana	United States
Population	37,835	6,080,485	281,421,906
Median age	30.7	35.2	35.3
Median age for Male	30.6	33.9	34
Median age for Female	30.8	36.5	36.5
Households	14,044	2,336,306	105,480,101
Household population	37,834	5,902,331	273,643,273
Average household size	2.69	2.53	2.59
Families	10,298	1,602,501	71,787,347
Average family size	3.19	3.05	3.14
Housing units	15,241	2,532,319	115,904,641
Occupied units	14,044	2,336,306	105,480,101
Vacant units	1,197	196,013	10,424,540

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