Power of Presentation

Thanks to reality
television shows, social media and digital marketing, consumers of real estate
are drawn towards beautiful, expressive, perfectly presented properties where
buyer objections are hard to justify. These aspirational homes encourage
sellers to emulate perfection with many spending significant sums to create the
perfect look prior to coming to market. 

The reality is that
most of us don’t live in homes that present like the recent winners of “The Block”.
Yet, in recent times, homes that present extraordinarily well more often than
not sell at significantly higher prices than similar homes where less attention
is paid to presentation.

Nowadays, real estate
agents will recommend property staging where carefully chosen furnishings are
brought in to create the perfect look. Accordingly, sellers often choose to
move out so as to facilitate perfect presentation. It is, after all, hard
living in a home that – ironically - presents like no one lives in it.

However, this is what modern buyers
demand. Buyers will notice the little things; an ill-fitting gate, for
example, is easily and cheaply repaired yet can loom large in the buyer’s mind
as a more major problem and hints that other areas of the property may also be similarly
neglected.

Of course, when
presenting your home for sale, you need to be cautious about over-capitalising.
Replacing a bathroom and renovating a kitchen are expensive and depending on
the property and its location may prove counter productive in the effort to
achieve the best price.

Obviously, each
property and circumstance engenders a variety of options for sellers when
preparing to sell and opinions from real estate agents on the matter are, as
always, subjective. In general terms, presenting a neat, clean and tidy home is
always going to help your cause in selling at the best price.

At the very least,
don’t leave piles of pants on bathroom floors or in wardrobes (yes, buyers may
open them – perhaps to see if anyone’s hiding inside!), de-clutter by storing
away trinkets and excess family photos, paint out bright colours on internal
walls, clear the fridge of magnets and school art and place loose items neatly
in storage cupboards. This might seem obvious, but we’re often surprised by
sellers’ lack of attention to presentation.

Remember, every small thing done to improve presentation results in a higher selling price. \

By Hayden Groves