Sex Sells Movies–Can the Same Principle Apply to Selling Houses?
“Sex and the City,” the movie, opened Friday to the tune of $26.9 Million based on the strength of sales by women and their friends (the buzz) resulting in sold out shows.
Your home for sale is the equivalent of an opening–it has to have the right “buzz” to be included on the buyer’s short list. Whether or not you have a successful opening can impact how many dollars you may gain or lose in terms of the sales price of your home. You usually do not get a second chance to make that all important first impression.
Your house for sale has to entice the buyer. If you were meeting a blind date, you would not don an ordinary “house dress,” but rather you might slip into that killer Little Black Dress, and accessorize it, perhaps, with a pair of strappy Manolo Blahnik heels, the latest “it” handbag, and an alluring “come hither” scent–in other words you would be “dressed to kill.” Your house needs to be “dressed to sell,” when a prospective buyer drives up to the front of your home for sale. Does your house have that all important “it” factor?
If not, you would be well advised to obtain a makeover (and it doesn’t necessarily require an extreme makeover) prior to putting your house on the market for sale.
In her article entitled Staging is House Marketing, Marion Duffy aptly points out that “You want your house displayed so as to give shoppers an idea of how your home may fit into their lifestyle. This is staging. Staging sets your house apart from the houses on the rack or the rows of houses.†Indeed, your house needs to appeal to the emotions of the buyer.
In a related article entitled Intuitive Home Finding, Lynne Pope paints a picture of how a buyer perceives their home: “When you think of a home, you look into your heart and you picture it, a picture so clear you feel it in your soul, the place you’ve dreamt about and longed for, ” namely, your Ideal Home. Indeed, your home may well be compared to one’s perception of an ideal soul mate. The image arises from our dreams…Your house is now the star of the Silver Screen: Ready, lights, camera, action!
