Presenting your home effectively to increase buyer interest online and at your open homes
You’ve decided to sell your home. You’ve completed your research and intelligently formed an appropriate list price guided by our article on pricing your property correctly to attract more buyers to your open homes. Now, you’re ready to finalise your online listing and confirm the dates of your initial open homes before potential buyers enter your front gate with high hopes to be impressed. Your home could be their new forever home, after all.
With a ‘first impressions count’ philosophy in mind, it’s important to execute a best possible approach to two major presentation aspects of your successful sale: photography and open home preparation. And, whether you’re selling with an agent or using technology to sell your home yourself through Airlisting or a similar platform, the same principles apply.
home yourself through Airlisting or a similar platform, the same principles apply.
Let’s talk photography.
Half the battle of a successful sale is attracting people to your open home. It’s a big commitment for anyone to forgo a portion of their day to view a property, and buyers aren’t going to make an appearance at your open home unless your home is beautifully presented on realestate.com.au and domain.com.au.
This is where professional photographers step in. Worth their weight in marketing gold, professional photographers have access to the highest quality equipment and latest software to produce a property portfolio on par with the latest Vogue Living magazine. Professional photography can be a large financial investment, however when the end goal is to attract as many potential buyers to your initial open homes, professional photographers give your property the best shot at standing out in an often-crowded market.
If you choose to sell your home with Airlisting, a professional photographer can be organised within a few clicks of a mouse, offering a full spectrum of packages to suit every budget and property type. View the packages here.
Next up; nailing the open home presentation.
Serious buyers can have multiple property viewings scheduled throughout every weekend in the lead up to the date they finally decide to move forward with a purchase. It’s paramount that you ensure your home is beautifully presented to create a positive experience that may encourage an offer on your property, rather than one down the road.
When a buyer inspects a home and can imagine themselves moving in with minimal changes, they are much more likely to place an offer. There’s no need for major renovations, in fact, a few cost-effective tasks that can have an impactful result on how a buyer feels about your property are:
- Changing strong, bold or patterned walls and soft furnishings to lighter, neutral hues to make the space appear fresher, brighter, larger and cleaner.
- Investing in neutrally coloured carpeting to replace old, shaggy, and dull carpeting.
- Decluttering by storing unused items in a storage facility or stacking neatly in your garage to depersonalise the space whilst making it appear larger.
- Turning lights on and drawing blinds and curtains to allow natural light in.
Of course, ensuring your home has been freshly cleaned in a non-negotiable. Essentially, you’re trying to create your buyer’s dream home, and in a buyer’s dream home, they definitely have a Mr Sheen clean kitchen and bathroom.
The main thing is to try to remain objective so that once you decide that you’re going to sell your property, you’ll remove the need to refer to it as your home or your family’s home, but rather as your future buyer’s home. If in doubt, take some photos of your home to compare to listings on realestate.com.au and domain.com.au – it may be obvious as to what you need to change.
Now that you’re prepared with the knowledge to master the presentation of your home, you’re almost ready for your open home debut. Stay tuned as we continue to share our fact-based insight to guide you through a successful real estate campaign over the coming weeks.
Whether you’re selling with an agent or using technology to sell your home yourself through Airlisting or a similar platform, staying informed enables you the power to achieve a great outcome. Sign up to the Airlisting mailing list or follow us on our social platforms for more information, including our next feature; How To Sell Your Home For The Highest Price And In The Fastest Amount Of Time – Promotion.