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 Los Angeles, CA

Latitude: 34.086159 -- Longitude: -118.375984

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Los Angeles, known as "L.A." or the "City of Angels", is the most populous city in the state of California and the second-most in the United States. One of the world's major global cities, it is located in Southern California and has a population of more than 4 million people, spanning 498 square miles. It is the core cultural and economic center of the Greater Los Angeles metropolitan area, a region home to over 18 million people. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4, 1850—five months before California achieved statehood—and is the county seat of Los Angeles County. Los Angeles is one of the world's most important centers of culture, science, technology, international trade, and higher education, and is home to numerous world-renowned institutions in a broad range of professional and cultural fields. In addition, the city is a leading producer of popular entertainment—such as motion pictures, television, and recorded music. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

California 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Los Angeles	California	United States
Population	3,694,820	33,871,648	281,421,906
Median age	31.6	33.3	35.3
Median age for Male	30.8	32.2	34
Median age for Female	32.6	34.4	36.5
Households	1,275,412	11,502,870	105,480,101
Household population	3,612,223	33,051,894	273,643,273
Average household size	2.83	2.87	2.59
Families	798,719	7,920,049	71,787,347
Average family size	3.56	3.43	3.14
Housing units	1,337,706	12,214,549	115,904,641
Occupied units	1,275,412	11,502,870	105,480,101
Vacant units	62,294	711,679	10,424,540

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