Does a house ever really ’sell itself’?

By in Buyers with 0 Comments

During one of the last weeks of this season’s The Apprentice, Donald Trump told those vying for the job and the viewers at home, too, that ‘nothing sells itself’.

Last week, I was at a model home in a development and a new Realtor was telling a seasoned Realtor that their homes sold themselves.  Later, the more seasoned Realtor shook her head and told me, “Nothing sells itself!”

You know I don’t believe I need to actively ‘sell’ a house. I’m there to provide the extra info, and I’d certainly never say, “Let’s get you into this baby for little or no money down…”!

But, if you look at the emotional side…the decision to buy based upon the emotional connection to the product, there is some ‘selling’ that takes place, albeit rather covertly.

  • “Can you imagine holiday dinners in this dining room?”
  • “I love having an extra room to throw the kids and their toys and their DVD’s…(not literally throw the children, of course…)”
  • “Plenty of room on this wall for shelves to put the trophies on.”

You need to create a new life for the buyer; they need help imagining how it would be living in that home. That’s why some agents will play the ‘entertain’ card…”This kitchen is great for entertaining.”  Everyone wants to be the most popular homeowner on the block.  Everyone wants to feel as if they have tons of friends who will come over for endless bar-b-ques or cocktails and hor d’oerves or the neighborhood’s best Superbowl party.

That’s also why staging is so important.  A well-staged home lures buyers into thinking they could live like they imagine the people who live in fabulous houses live.

So, does a house ever really sell itelf?  Not really.  The staged home and the Realtor work together to create an atmosphere condusive to buying, which is what really sells a place.

 

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About The Author
Cari McGee

My husband and I came to the Tri-Cities in 1994, and we thought it would be a temporary stop on our way to larger cities. He was a television sports anchor at the time, and we planned to go wherever the "next step up" took us. Twenty-plus years later, we're still here and we've loved every minute of it! We have two children now, and we've found the Tri-Cities area is a wonderful place to raise a family. It's a great place to do outdoorsy things -- I like to hike Badger Mountain or run along the river path. I also love reading ... by a cozy fire in the winter or a beautiful picture window in the summer (with the A/C on!). I've been a licensed Realtor since 2004. I earned my managing broker's license in 2016, which means I can run my own brokerage, or create a team of real estate agents and supervise them, which is exactly what I did when I formed the Cari McGee Real Estate Team in 2018! We have administrative and marketing personnel, as well as additional agents to serve you. I became a director of the Tri-Cities Association of Realtors Board of Directors in 2016, became Secretary/Treasurer of the organization, and was elected to Vice President in 2019. Want to talk about real estate? Click here to schedule a meeting with me!

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