Selling a Home Requires Making a Great First Impression

I'm going to share with you one important thing I do when some of my tenants move out and I decide it's time to sell a particular property. If I didn't know how to sell my house myself I would simply call a real estate agent and let a professional handle it. But over the years I've developed a system that works for me, and I'm thinking it might be something you should consider in the present real estate market.

I've talked to a lot of people who said my suggestions worked for them in the past. So, here's my first suggestion, and you can laugh if you like, but it's the key to seeing your house the way your prospective buyers will see it. Go out the door, walk down the steps to the sidewalk or street, and turn around, facing your house. Just stand there for a minute and don't move, simply staring at your house. Try really hard to look at your house as though you've never seen it before because that is how other people will see it.

They don't know about the improvements you've made or the expensive repairs you may have paid for just to keep the house maintained. All they care about is what they actually see today and how it makes them feel, especially the first moment they see the house, their first impression.

The first impression your house makes on a possible buyer is one they do not forget. It forms a lasting feeling about the house and that feeling either turns them on or turns them off as regards their interest in your house. Your job is to remember the feeling you got when you saw your house for the first time and ask yourself what caused that feeling? How can your re-create that feeling for new buyers now?

Seeing your house as other people see it and taking a few notes will give you a good start on the to-do list I call How To Sell My House, a list I've developed over the years for myself and others. While you're thinking about creating good feelings in your prospective buyers, go ahead and stroll back up the sidewalk and the stairs into your house. Then, stop as soon as you get inside. Stop and look at the entry way and describe your first impression of the interior of the house.

Don't forget to take notice of what you hear and what you smell as well as what you see. All of a person's senses are involved in his or her first impression of a house. You are so familiar with your house that you may have become somewhat numb to the experience that others may be having. Taking the time to really pay attention and consider how your house looks and sounds and smells will help you prepare it for the next person to fall in love with it, just as you did!


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Leo Kingston has 30 years of experience buying and selling homes as an investor in the Oklahoma City area. His company offers local home owners simple options for selling their homes quickly for cash.