Real Estate Information

Selling Houses: Cutting Edge Design Tips for Selling


In this article, you're going to discover new techniques for marketing houses, and you'll find that these fresh, new interior design ideas will help sell your home faster, and for a higher price than the competition!

Buyers' physical senses respond to a home's design, and what a buyer feels is based upon their psychological reactions to sight, hearing, smell, touch, and even taste. Design Psychology employs new strategies in interior design to entice buyers.

What do buyers want? They want a home that meets their needs, and they'll eventually buy the home that makes them FEEL happy and will impress their friends, because they also want to be proud of the home they've chosen. Your choice of decorating colors, patterns, textures, and furnishings will influence the way a prospective buyer feels, and the buyer's feelings will impact their choice of housing.

Design Psychology, unlike traditional interior design, brings into play:

Color instead of bland white walls
Furnishings for feelings
Props to entice buyers

COLORS help you sell your home to your target market. Usually, highly-educated and wealthy buyers prefer complex muted colors, while buyers in the lower price range prefer pure primary or pastel colors. Also, your color choice depends upon the selling season. Use warm-color accents if selling in fall and winter and cool colors if selling during spring and summer.

One mistake many realtors make is to tell sellers to paint everything white. White may look clean, but it does little to make a buyer feel as if they "just can't live without the home." White walls also don't create cheerful feelings, and even worse, white walls don't make most people look good. Buyers will ultimately buy the home that makes them feel happy while making them look great at the same time.

As for FURNISHINGS, use cozy-snuggly pieces in cooler weather and fewer furnishings during hot, steamy months, in order to encourage a buyer's emotional response. When a buyer sees your home as a sanctuary from the hectic and harsh world, you'll sell that home.

PROPS include things such as paintings, to add depth and make the rooms feel bigger; flowers or plants, in the right emotional colors for the season; and the primary "prop," mirrors, which psychologically reinforce the buyer's presence in the home. Buyers literally get to see themselves in the home and become emotionally ready to live there.

Costs of Transforming Your Home into a Buyer's Dream House

Most home sellers can invest about $500 to spruce up their home for a quick sale, and a little paint and a little sweat will go a long way. To save some money, check out Restore, which is Habitat for Humanity's thrift store, for building supplies. They carry "oops paint" and lighting fixtures for next to nothing. If you decide to replace carpeting, appliances, and other big ticket items, transformation costs for completely going through a house can cost up to $8,000.

Using Marketing Psychology to Sell Faster for More Money

Always consider your target market and their emotional needs. First-time buyers want shelter and security, while moving-up buyers desire prestige and peace.

After you've cleaned and shined your home, set the stage. Add a few props, carefully selected to encourage a prospective buyer's desired emotions and paying special attention to happiness, joy, serenity, and security. Putting a little extra effort into the marketing your home will pay off with a faster sale and a bigger paycheck at closing.

(c) Copyright 2004, Jeanette J. Fisher. All rights reserved.

Jeanette Fisher, Design Psychology Professor, is the author of "Sell Your Home for Top Dollar-FAST! Interior Design Secrets for Optimum Selling in Any Market," and other real estate and interior design psychology books. For more articles, Jeanette's various newsletters, and help with "Creating a Sizzling Sales Flyer," visit http://www.sellfast.info


MORE RESOURCES:

A Bullish Buy in Commercial Real Estate
Barron's - 6 hours ago
By TERESA RIVAS SOME INVESTORS MAY THINK that commercial real estate is a bubble waiting to pop, but a longtime director at Grubb & Ellis (ticker: GBE) has ...
Kojaian Accumulates 2 Million Shares of Grubb & Ellis (GBE) So Far ... StreetInsider.com (subscription)
all 2 news articles


Robert Shiller on the Real Estate Crisis
U.S. News & World Report, DC - 8 hours ago
Henry Blodget has an interesting interview with Yale Professor Robert Shiller on the housing crisis. Watch the video here. Highlights are below: Home price ...


Longtime Real Estate Industry Executive Bob Bill Joins HouseValues ...
MarketWatch - 16 hours ago
today announced that longtime real estate industry executive Bob Bill has joined the company as vice president and general manager of broker services. ...
Longtime Real Estate Industry Executive Bob Bill Joins HouseValues ... CNNMoney.com
Longtime Real Estate Industry Executive Bob Bill Joins HouseValues ... Trading Markets (press release)
Thomas Properties Group Adds Paul Rutter as Executive Vice ... MarketWatch
all 15 news articles


AXcess News: Taking a Byte Out of Canada's Real Estate Market
MarketWatch - 6 hours ago
RENO, NV, Sep 05, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- While the US real estate market sits in the doldrums, home sales in Canada are expected to rise 5.3 ...


Arizona Republic

Vehicle found in slaying of real-estate broker
Arizona Republic, AZ - 22 hours ago
5, 2008 12:00 AM Authorities in California on Thursday located the vehicle of a slain Phoenix real-estate broker and detained people found inside for ...
Vehicle of slain Phoenix real-estate broker found in California KSWT-TV
A prominent Jewish activist in Phoenix, Irving Shuman, 84, was ... Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Slain Phoenix broker's car found United Press International
Arizona Republic
all 21 news articles


Report: San Diego Real Estate Undervalued
NBC Sandiego.com, CA - 3 hours ago
SAN DIEGO -- San Diego's real estate market is now undervalued, according to a report from economic and financial analysis company Global Insight. ...
A housing flip-flop San Diego Union Tribune
all 2 news articles


Washington Post Real Estate editor and columnist
Washington Post, United States - 11 hours ago
Welcome to Real Estate Live, an online discussion of the Washington area housing market with Post Real Estate editor Maryann Haggerty and columnist ...
Sales slip in August, but real estate market holds firm overall Canada.com
I got this email from a reader: Boston Globe
all 4 news articles


IDX Broker Customizes and Simplifies the MLS Search on Real Estate ...
PR-CANADA.net (press release), Montenegro - 14 hours ago
IDX, Inc. announces the addition of Mille Fine with Century 21 Advantage Gold to the rapidly growing database of real estate brokers and agents who are ...
Sprucing up your home’s MLS report a good idea Naples Daily News
Custom IDX Search Tools Enrich the Search Experience for Realtor ... PR.com (press release)
all 3 news articles


Report: Real Estate Prices Down by 1.5% in August
PR Web (press release), WA - 16 hours ago
Real-time real estate statistics by Altos Research show the Las Vegas real estate market continues to be the hardest hit in the country. ...
Where Homes Are Selling Fastest BusinessWeek
Asking Prices Resume Downward Trend; Summer’s Glow Gone? Housing Wire
REALTOR® Reports First Dip in Austin Home Prices in 2008 PR Web (press release)
all 6 news articles


Real estate shake-up strengthens consumer's arm
New Zealand Herald, New Zealand - 12 hours ago
Photo / Herald on Sunday In a little over a year, house buyers and sellers ripped off by real estate agents will be able to get up to $100000 compensation. ...
New laws to hold agents accountable Waikato Times
all 2 news articles

Real-Estate - Google News

home | site map
Realty Web Services © 2007 MesaSky Services