That’s an obvious question – we all do! So what is the trick? So much time and money are spent on listings, advertising, contacting vendors, hiring a Real Estate VA, systems updates, roofs, and structural issues, that many times there’s nothing left for what really makes the sale: what your potential buyers see. And more importantly, what they fall in love with.
People don’t walk into your house, and say, “Wow, they have all new electric. Let’s buy.” That’s just a core expectation. The trick to selling houses fast is to seduce your customers to fall in love when they walk through the property. It has to feel like a home to them.
The two most inexpensive yet surefire ways we have found to create this atmosphere is through color and through decorating.
A tastefully decorated house really stands out from the others. New house builders learned this a long time ago. Why do you suppose they hire interior decorators? But they have the advantage of creating one masterpiece to sell many. Rehabbers don’t have that luxury. But we discovered that a house can be “staged” to feel like a lived-in home. Staging is the art of artistically placing décor items around the house. Perhaps a colorful place setting on the kitchen counter along with open coffee beans for aroma, and an open recipe book turned to a colorful picture. Bathrooms dressed up with beautiful towels, sweet-smelling soaps, and window treatments as shower curtains. Finally, fireplace mantels decorated as if the family was already living there.
But even staging doesn’t create the ambiance you need. It is the warmth that comes from color. You may have heard to use a white-on-white color scheme to remain neutral and not turn anyone off. The truth is – no one is turned ON either. Buyers aren’t attracted to all-white houses. At best, there’s no emotion. With the use of contemporary designer colors, however, these same people fall in love with the home. That’s the emotion that sells. When they love, they buy. And they fall in love with houses that are brought to life with full color.
