Falling in Love- A Valentine’s Day journey through real estate.

When you know, you know. Do you remember the exhilarating rush of your very first crush? That flutter in your stomach and the thrill of simply being near that special someone? A similar magic happens when a buyer encounters the home of their dreams and becomes utterly enchanted by it. I can’t count the number of times buyers in my auto-prospecting have revisited a house 15, 20, or even more times. That’s what I like to call “house love.” Often, it’s a property that feels just out of reach or has some significant challenge standing in the way of claiming it as their own, but still, they cannot keep away from coming back to it, time and time again.

So, if you are selling your home, the objective is to get those buyers looking at your house online over and over, with enough urgency that they actually come to see it and fall in love! 

How do you do this?  First, by making sure the front-facing photo of the property looks gorgeous. Landscaping cleaned up and pristinely beautiful.  Make sure the paint is in good shape, the color is au courant, and that the light is good. Bright, sunny photos with few shadows are great.  Sometimes, a twilight photo, if it is glittery and cheerful enough, can make a house look tremendous.  But whatever you do, this front picture is key because many MLSs require a front photo to be the first photo a consumer sees. As they say, curb appeal is everything.

Once inside the house, all the lights need to be on, and the windows cleared of shades and screens. Staging is key, neutralizing the space so someone can envisage themselves there. The indoor-outdoor flow needs to be excellent, the yard or patio inviting, staged, and landscaped.  Use potted plants if it is a deck or patio.  You just need to make it feel charming, delightful, and simple. 

If you have to live there, pare down your stuff to almost nothing, make it as Marie Kondo-clear as possible, and remove all personal photos. It is ideal for the property to be vacant.

No cooking smells can be present, except nice ones, like baking chocolate chip cookies.  All these things seem cliché, but they actually work.

Make sure that the depiction of the property is accurate- those very wide-angle photos don’t do any favors, as they distort things. If the room looks enormous, and then buyers come there and it is normal-sized, they will be disappointed. I have noticed that some buyers like straight-on photos, and others like diagonal shots, so include plenty of both in your online presence.

If there is street noise, make sure that inoffensive music is playing softly throughout the house, classical, and light jazz work for this- Beastie Boys no… what you want to create is a mood that says “Your life would be terrific if you lived here, all your troubles would melt away and you would be the best, brightest and most beautiful version of you if you lived here”.  In other words, encourage that buyer, both online and in person, to feel like they would fall in love with themselves if they lived in your property!