We've all said this to our clients but the reality is they won't follow our advice when it comes to de-cluttering and neutral staging.

One of my favorite staging professionals told me it would take her three weeks to prepare her home for sale because at the moment it is too personalized for most buyers.  

Moving from home owner to home seller requires presenting your home not as your personal residence but as a model home--and there's a big difference.

It's a challenge to give this advice and have it received but it's important and the truth. Great job.

Well put! A home for sale needs to appeal to the masses, just like a builder's model home.  I like your analogy.

Good work Pat. It's hard to find the buyers who share our own good taste. Sometimes the buyers with the good taste are just not the ones buying right now.

I can't tell you how many times I've told sellers this...gently. It normally starts with my telling them how much I love their home, and then suggesting ways to make it more neutral to attract more buyers's interest.

Pat -  Your masterpiece angle is very clever!  Some people are so attached to their stuff. We had a client several years ago that just wouldn't put away all her stuff from around the world which was very distracting and confusing to the eye. We ended up making it all 'disappear' in the photos and video and it looked SO much better!

Most people just don't get it.  After all, look at those upgraded curtain rods that they spent $1000 on.  

Unfortunatley, buyers translate the "masterpiece" into dollars - the money they will need to spend to "un-masterpiece" it!

Good advice, and for sellers often hard to take.

That was a article right on target and tastefully done!

Once we get the sellers to accept the market value of the house, then its the fun part to get them to de-personalize the home and turn in back into a house.

Congrats on the feature!  And  yes, it's hard for sellers to imagine that buyers see things differently when they come in.  Best to show the house and not your stuff.

I loved how the former owners decorated their space.  It wasn't how I would do it, and when I moved in the first thing I did was re-paint all the walls that they had with a salmon pinky color!  YUCK!  It worked for them, not for me.

Love the title of this and this is spot on point!  I have seen some homes that are super personalized that take forever to sell.

It is hard for all of us to disassociate our selves from the good work we have done.  Why would the buyer possibly want anything different?

Strange but true a new homeowner may want to paint the forest green walls in the living  room a different color. For selling neutral is better.

It is a fact that homebuyers won't always love your stuff.  When decorating it is best to consider whether you will be selling anytime soon; or be ready to potentially repaint and decorate when it comes time to sell.

Pat, it's not always easy to say this to proud sellers in a tactful way that they will not find offensive.  I usually include some printed materials about "preparing your home for sale" that talk about this issue and use it as a reference.  That way, it's not me telling the, it's the brochure!  :-)

Pat McCormick - I still believe the home needs to be kept in reasonably good condition - not necessarily like a 5-star hotel.

Well, I kind of feel that way about my home too.  I have worked very hard to get it to look like this.  Good thing I'm not selling!

  J"ust as you did when you first moved in, they want a canvas to create their own masterpiece."  so difficult to get this point across with some sellers.

Pat, it's often a shock to sellers when they learn they will not recoup their decorating expenses. 

Woo Hoo, Pat...let it be said. Just because you like it, doesn't mean It works for other people. Rarely do you find that buyer that says....This is perfect. I wouldn't change a thing. 

The last time we moved from our "home", my wife started to cry. I looked at her and said "that house doesn't give a **** if you cry".

I try to call them homes because it is a personal thing to buyers and sellers, but you're right, it really is just a house. Funny how we can make inanimate objects develop a personality.

I think one of the hardest things for some sellers to understand is that they can't recoup all the costs they put into their home for decorating/upgrading/etc.

The seller has to understand the home was prfect for them but now a buyer has to make it perfect for their taste.

Pat you are spot on. I like Ron # 28 always use the word home, but ultimately it is just a building. I am reminded of this everyday lately. There is a great waterfront home right around the corner from me that is being gutted and redone. The home was on the market for $1.5 M down to 1.1 and did not sell. It was foreclosed on, and sold on the courthouse steps. I showed it to 2 different buyers with no luck. It is a great house,  but the previous owner had so many knickknack's and stuff in there it was hard to see the beauty of the home. I was told by the listing agent that the owner had been told repeatedly to remove most of the STUFF but always refused. IMHO this home would have been sold before foreclosure had it been de-cluttered. 

Try to look at your own place objectively and be honest.

I had a seller who when told what his home was worth as compared to another property said his home was better in every way, and much much bigger. I showed him plans and records that showed the other place to be actually bigger. And he still wouldn't believe it.

Who says Real Estate is not emotional? Better yet, who says its all business?

Hi Pat,

Excellent post!   Sellers need to take the emotion out of the sale.   It is a tough thing to actually do.

Sometimes it's hard hearing that your life's work doesn't quite resonate with another person.  But best to just get through it so you can begin molding your next home in a better image.  

This is a difficult pill for most sellers, I think a big part of it is not that they can't understand how a buyer would have different tastes, but that a buyer would not be intent on making the home their own AFTER the sale regardless of how the home looks prior.

By the comments you can tell many of us have seen and dealt with this issue.
But think many sellers get the picture pretty quickly if they see potential Buyers back away.

Right-o!  However, I admit I personally struggle with this some.  My house now is newer, beige-er, nice-er but I miss my enchilada red wall in the basement, turquoise wall with gold dragonflys in a previous home, etc.  My house is lovely but doesn't feel like me.  I guess I could go for it, make it suit me as long as I would be ready, willing, and able to neutralize it all before I sell it someday.

Pat --- Very well said. It's hard for sellers to understand that not everyone has the same taste they do. Selling their house instead of their home sometimes takes a while to wrap their heads around.

It is hard for people to realize that "their masterpiece" won't sell unless it is a "blank canvas" for a buyer! Great article!

Great post! I agree with you. When you list your home remember that one person's treasure is another persons castaway. Most people don't sell more than 4 homes in their lifetime - it is our job to educate them on how to get the most money for their home, even if it means painting their favorite rooms. We have a responsibility to let them know that the room that they love is just plain ugly! LOL! 

What??!! You mean the new buyers may not appreciate the fantastic green faux wall it took me a week to do?      

Hi Pat, sellers have to not only depersonalize, they have to start emotionally separarating themselves and remember that selling is a business decision.

Pat,

Shed a tear, and move on. The next house is just waiting for memories to build.

Rich

Even though it's perfectly clear that the seller needs to understand that it's just a house they're selling, you have to keep in mind how difficult it could be to separate from a place you called your home and have someone else wanting to completely change everything you liked about this place. So you have to understand your buyer, help them go through it and not just throw it in their faces. Selling a home can be a really sensitive process as we all know and realtors should be understanding and helpful.

I appreciate your post, Pat.  Sellers have put so much of their lives into their homes that, when it comes time to sell, it's hard for them to shift from a "home" to a "house" mentality.

Pat - what a fantastic post i love this idea "you’re still selling the canvas for the next owners to paint their own masterpiece, not the finished work"

Thank you for reminding me as I get my childhood home ready for sale.

How beautifully said. You just earned my Reblog of the day! Love the canvas concept!

Pat, I can see why your post has been featured. You are so right that home sellers need to understand that their perfectly decorated home will probably not be another buyers perfectly decorated home. They must make it appealing to potential buyers.

Somehow I missed this last month when it was featured!  EXCELLENT analogy!  And it's one I've not seen used before....being a home stager, I've seen and used many!

This is good advice for home sellers.

Happy New Year!