Selling Your Home - Why Should Buyers Choose Yours?

November 20, 2008

Assuming certain factors are the same - such as location, amenities, approximate price range, features - what would entice a buyer to put an offer on your house instead of another in your subdivision?

It’s been my experience that most buyers lack imagination when it comes to looking at properties. They are effected by your decorating, your taste and how your home makes them feel. Only about 20% can detach themselves from your decorations and imagine their home in its place.

So how do you appeal to the 80% of buyers who want to walk into your house and feel at home?

The first step is to de-clutter your home. Any clutter translates into a read-between-the-lines detractor of “not enough storage space”. If you truly don’t have enough storage space for all of your possessions, treasured though they may be, then rent a small storage space. Go through your home and remove everything except the most flattering and visually appealing items. Your home does not want to look bare, but it needs to give the impressions of elegance and space.

The next step is to take care of any maintenance issues before you put the home on the market. You may be temped to say, “I’ll fix anything their home inspector finds”, but in my experience, your initial offer will be lower (or even non-existent) if the impression the buyers get is that you have not taken care of the home. So replace rotten wood, fix and paint damaged or grubby walls, replace torn or damaged flooring, service HVAC units before you call your real estate agent.

The final step is to thoroughly clean the home. Hire someone to help you do a deep spring cleaning - clean baseboards, polish mirrors, shampoo carpets. Make your home sparkle. Buyers will notice on a subconscious level that the home is clean. Why do you think new homes are so attractive to buyers? It’s because no-one’s dirt is there - it’s virgin and pristine.

Once you have listed the home, keep it clean and tidy. Make beds and put away dishes before you leave in the morning. So often I’ve tried to make appointments to show a home, and the seller has said that we’ll have to come back another day because they left the home in a mess that day. Normally there is no “another day”. So if there is a day you’ve had to run out in a hurry, take a deep breath and let it be shown anyway and hope that the buyers are the 20% that can imagine the dishes in their right place!

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Local Information for Bernardsville, NJ

Latitude: 40.7188 -- Longitude: -74.577675

ZIP Codes for Bernardsville, New Jersey	07924
Area Code for Bernardsville, New Jersey	908
Time zone for Bernardsville, New Jersey	EST

Other Area Cities: Short Hills, NJ Bernardsville, NJ Basking Ridge, NJ Berkeley Heights, NJ Florham Park, NJ Madison, NJ New Vernon, NJ Summit, NJ Chatham, NJ New Providence, NJ Millington, NJ

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As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 7,345 people, 2,723 households, and 2,050 families residing in the borough. The population density was 219.3/km² (568.1/mi²). There were 2,807 housing units at an average density of 83.8/km² (217.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the borough was 93.94% White, 0.25% African American, 0.15% Native American, 2.64% Asian, 1.55% from other races, and 1.47% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.98% of the population. There were 2,723 households out of which 35.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 67.2% were married couples living together, 6.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.7% were non-families. 21.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.69 and the average family size was 3.12. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

New Jersey 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Bernardsville	New Jersey	United States
Population	7,345	8,414,350	281,421,906
Median age	40	36.7	35.3
Median age for Male	39.2	35.5	34
Median age for Female	40.9	38	36.5
Households	2,723	3,064,645	105,480,101
Household population	7,335	8,219,529	273,643,273
Average household size	2.69	2.68	2.59
Families	2,050	2,154,539	71,787,347
Average family size	3.12	3.21	3.14
Housing units	2,807	3,310,275	115,904,641
Occupied units	2,723	3,064,645	105,480,101
Vacant units	84	245,630	10,424,540

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