Tips for Home
Sellers | Marketing Psychology for Home Staging and
Redesign
By Jeanette Joy Fisher
Spend time planning your
home's sale, rather than just listing it and then
taking your chances. Net more money, and faster!
Besides home staging, sellers benefit from doing a little market
research and applying marketing psychology.
Tip: Learn Your Market First
Home sellers need to understand their local real
estate market. Call your friendly real estate
agent, an escrow officer, or your loan officer and get
theses answers:
- How many houses are for sale in your area?
- How many houses sell each week?
- Is it a sellers' or buyers' market?
Do you need to need to apply extra measures to
entice a home buyer to pay asking price right away?
Or, does is make sense to offer the house "as
is."
As a home seller, you also need to know what type of
buyer closes on houses similar to yours. Then,
you can make a specific marketing and redesign plan.
Take a look at people moving into your area and make a
buyers' profile. Are the new people in your neighbor
hood:
- first-time home buyers
- move-up buyers
- retiring empty nesters
- vacation home buyers
Home sellers and investors who rehab houses make
more money when they fix the houses up using features
and colors that attract their buyers' profile. Instead
of painting everything white or neutral, savvy
investors can paint walls in colors that speak to
buyers. For instance, first-time home buyers usually
have younger, less-sophisticated tastes. They love
brighter, primary colors and might pay more for a bold
kitchen with lemon yellow accents. On the other hand,
move-up buyers, typically older, educated, and
sophisticated prefer complex colors like silver-sage
green.
Tip: Don't Paint Everything White
Contrary to what most home staging books tell
you about painting everything white, daring to use
color instead of bland white walls will increase your
profit potential.
Lynette Jennings tested people's perception of room
size and color. A room that was painted white appeared
larger to only a few people in the survey, compared to
an identical room painted with a color, and the
perceived difference was only about six inches!
Because most people look better surrounded by color, a
colored wall also makes them feel happier. Buyers
select the house that makes them feel happiest.
Instead of boring beige walls, we painted our latest
investment house's living and dining rooms in a new
soft taupe color. The tan color with a gentle pink
glow helps make the boring beige carpet selected by
the past owner less detracting. The house is perfect
for the new occupant, a divorced mom with one teenage
daughter.
Once you determine your redesign plan for your
profiled buyer, you need to use marketing
psychology strategies to generate "traffic" to
your "product"-- your buyers' or tenants' "dream
home." Take advantage of Internet marketing methods
when you create your sales flyer. Instead of just
listing the home's features, like most generic agent
flyers, create a flyer with BENEFITS to the new home
occupant.
Summary
Explore marketing psychology and use interior
design psychology to sell your home. These twin
concepts give you an edge beyond home staging.
Learn how to profile your buyers and create a
buyer's "Dream Home." Plus, get the added benefit of expert real estate
advice. Explore Jeanette Fisher's
Home Staging with Design Psychology books.
Home Staging Articles