Selling your home can take a fair deal of work. Some of the things that you need to do tend to be clear enough — you need to find a real estate agent, for instance, and tell everyone you know that your home is for sale. Other parts of the home selling process may be less obvious, however. It’s important to make sure that you don’t overlook them. What follows are five ideas for things that you should do to attract the attention of buyers and get the most notice possible for your listing.
4 Home-Selling Ideas That You May Be Overlooking
Tips by Maxwell Alexander, Realtor, VP Global Marketing and Design, Almax Realty
Try your best to attract millennial homebuyers
Tips by Maxwell Alexander, Realtor, VP Global Marketing and Design, Almax Realty
For a few years now, millennial homebuyers have turned out to be the largest group of homebuyers each year — one in three homes are purchased by them. If you find ways to appeal to this group, you may do very well with your listing. A few ideas can help:
• Millennial homebuyers are on social media each day. You need to make sure that you go to a real estate agent who is familiar with promoting listings on visual social media like Instagram and Pinterest, and also on Twitter and Facebook.
• Equipping your home with smart home technology can make it attractive to millennial buyers. Investing in Alexa- or Google Assistant-powered power outlets and home security systems, for instance, makes your home stand out. Some research indicates that millennial buyers would be willing to pay an extra $1,500 for a home with smart technology.
• Most millennials are willing to pay about three percent more for a home that is energy efficient. Not only can you add a smart programmable thermostat, but you can also invest in plugging all air leaks, and in adding extra insulation.
• Eco-friendly features help attract millennial buyers. If you have solar panels on the roof, it would be a plus. If you don’t, you can still call the attention of buyers to things like the trees that shade your home and help reduce air-conditioning costs.
Hire a professional photographer
It might occur to you that you could take photos of your home yourself to put on your home listing. It’s a much better idea to hire a professional photographer, however, who brings equipment worth thousands of dollars to the job, and years of training. According to one study, listings that feature high-quality professional photography sell in half as much time as listings that feature amateur photography by the owner. Professional photography even helps homes sell for more. Hiring a professional photographer is simply what it takes to sell a house efficiently. Try to find the best photographers in the area. If you live in the Hudson Valley, reach out to Duncan Avenue Real Estate Photography Studio to get professional, magazine-quality photographs of your home, or simply work with one of the Almax Realty agents, because Duncan Avenue’s world-class photography services are free to all of our clients.
Get your home ready for the open house
When you hire a real estate agent, you might believe that it’s part of their job to prepare your home for an open house event. Unfortunately, preparing homes isn’t in their work description. It’s entirely up to you to make sure that your home is ready to show. There are a number of steps that you can take.
You need to tidy up your home, tidy up your closets and drawers, and secure your valuables and prescription drugs so that nothing gets stolen. It can also help to prepare refreshments for visitors to help themselves to. Cookies and bottles of cold water can make an excellent impression.
Send your pets elsewhere
The idea of an open house is to allow viewers to look around, and imagine themselves living in your home. This is the reason why it’s always a good idea for your family to not be at home when there is an open house in progress. Allowing your pets to stay isn’t a good idea, either. It’s possible that your pets won’t make welcoming noises when strangers walk around. Seeing your pets there will make it hard for your visitors to imagine themselves in your home, too.
Being successful in selling your home is about more than having a good product to offer. It’s also about marketing. You are up against other sellers of homes attracting buyers with marketing moves aimed specifically at gaining their attention. It’s important that you step up your game in order to keep up with the competition.
