Home buyers use all their senses when looking at a home. Sure sight is important but so are all the other senses. To ensure buyers love your home you have to appeal to all five senses.
SMELL
The smell sense. A smell can be conscious or subconscious but it registers in our thoughts, giving a positive or possible negative feeling about something. When selling try to ensure your home smells as fresh as possible.
- Open all the windows if the weather permits to let the fresh air flow throughout the house.
- When selling be conscientious of what you are cooking in your home, odors can linger and some may not be desirable to your buyers. Spicy foods, garlic, onions and even beloved bacon by many can linger and cause smells that are not fresh.
- Clean carpets, upholstery, and drapery prior to putting your house on the market, by doing so you may be able to remove odors. If you find you still have lingering odors, remove or replace the offending objects.
- If you are a smoker you will also have to go a step further and possibly wash down all surfaces- yes ceilings and walls, or repaint to make the house feel fresh. While you have your house on the market smoke outside so the smell does not linger.
- Keep your trash bins empty, especially kitchen waste, sealed in outdoor containers.
- If you have a dishwasher run it on a regular basis. Run water for 30 seconds or more and toss some citrus peels into your disposal for a fresh aroma.
- Pet odors can be very disagreeable to some people. Keep your pets off the furniture, if their “space” is not in an area with hard easy to clean surfaces try and move them to one. Keep all bedding clean and bathe and brush your pets on a regular schedule to minimize smells and shedding.
- Do not use a lot of air fresheners, or candles with a heavy sent, try and keep to a fresh air smell as best as possible
TOUCH
The sense of feeling. Run your fingers over surfaces, dusty, sticky, grimy – clean them and keep them clean. Look at doorknobs, counters, light switches, floors all those details can make a big difference to a buyer. Take a look at the bed linens – are the clean, stain-free and touchable? If not this is a good time to go and purchase some new fresh ones.
HEARING
When a Realtor is showing a house they may be talking, or maybe they allow the buyers to tour the home take a look and then discuss. Listen to your house, do you have creaky floors, dripping faucets, squeaky door hinges or anything that tells a buyer that the house needs fixing. If so fix before putting the house on the market. You cannot control the sense of sounds like noisy neighbors or traffic but you could put on soft music throughout the house.
SIGHT
Sight is one of the most important senses when selling. Buyers want to envision themselves in the rooms. Your lifestyle is not important to a buyer, theirs is. This means being objective and setting your house up in a way that will satisfy your market.
- Give each room a purpose as it was intended. Is your Master bedroom set up as a place to relax and retreat or does it have your home office and exercise equipment throughout? Move those items to a different room or a place that would make more sense.
- Do you have bold colors on the wall or wallpaper? Now is the time to neutralize those colors. Colors speak differently to each person and you want the rooms set so anyone can envision their personal belongings fitting into the rooms.
- Depersonalize, you have probably heard it over and over again. It not only means removing the personal photos, but also those trinkets, trophies, and items that can identify who obviously lives currently in the house. Keep your market in mind and try to neutralize your décor as best as possible.
- Fresh flowers and neat plants can be “eye candy” if done properly. They can also lend to adding a fresh fragrance to the air
TASTE
This can be a tough one when you are thinking about a house. Consider offering ice-cold bottled water on a hot day, maybe a fresh pot of brewed coffee if it’s cold out. A small touch like this can resound with visitors when looking at numerous homes in a day.
Other articles of interest:
6 Ways to Make Your Property Stand Out
Tips from the Pro’s
How to Paint a Room
Make Your House Smell Fabulous
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