You've heard it before - when the client gets ready to sell, you always recommend that they depersonalize. Take down the wedding photos, the baby pictures, the awards. Hide your PlayStation and Wii. And get that bicycle out of the kitchen. But don't stop there. Depersonalization goes beyond just taking yourself out of the visual picture.
What your client used to call home has just become another listing - one of many, many properties up for sale. So how will you help them stand out from the crowd? They might spend money fixing it up, getting it ready. They'll throw a new coat of paint on the walls. They'll invest in a professional stager and maybe an organizer to help de-clutter. But there's one improvement most people neglect to make and it's the least costly of them all. It's also arguably the hardest to-do on the list.
What can your client do to improve their chances of a quick sale that costs nothing?
Stop calling it "home." Really. Encourage your clients to remove the word from their vocabulary and from their mind. When they leave work at the end of the day, they'll head back "to the house." When they tell people they're selling, say their "place" is for sale. It may sounds crazy, but once they stop calling it their home, once they detach themselves from those four walls, something mystical happens. Call it the Law of Attraction, Zen, Fred, whatever name you want to give it - once you stop referring to your home as "home," buyers start appearing.
Ask any realtor - they'll swear they sell more property when the homeowner is out of town, on vacation (and hard to reach). When the homeowner is detached, distracted from the stress of selling - when they are far from "home," things begin to happen. So when they're getting ready to sell, have them move that bike out of the kitchen, take the photos off the mantle, and depersonalize their vocabulary too. It costs nothing to do and just might make all the difference.
For more tips on selling and staging property, contact a Certified Redesign Specialist with Eye to Eye Interiors for an affordable consultation. Serving Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. (773) 350-7020.
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