What Home Buyers Want

What Home Buyers Want


by: ashleywhittenberger Sunday, June 20th, 2010

Author: ashleywhittenberger





Ashley Whittenberger is a chronic entrepreneur, business consultant and speaker who has learned to successfully balance her left brain with her right. As President and CEO of several companies Ashley knows exactly how to harness her creativity, vision, business savvy and leadership skills to inspire others to “play a bigger game” in life and business. You can learn more about Ashley at www.ashleywhittenberger.com.



In a recent study of home buyer preferences conducted by Avid Ratings Co featured in on one of our favorite blogs, Styled, Staged & Sold, we learned a lot about what today’s new home buyer is looking for. How does this relate to properly packaging, marketing and staging an existing home when going on the market? First of all, we can probably assume that these preferences would be applicable to those purchasing pre-owned homes as well. Since the definition of staging includes “preparing a property to appeal to the most number of buyers as possible” and this study shows us what most buyers are looking for, BINGO! We’ve got the ingredients for our action plan right before our eyes. Thanks to this study, we know where focusing our attention will yield the best ROI when staging a home to sell. Ready to get started? First let’s take a look at the Top 10 Features Buyers Want in a New Home:

1. Large kitchens with an island.



2. Energy-efficient appliances and high-efficiency insulation and windows. (These were the most sought-after “green” features from buyers.)



3. Home office or study



4. Main-floor master suite



5. Outdoor living room



6. Ceiling fans



7. Master suite soaker tubs and oversize showers with seating areas



8. Stone and brick exteriors



9. Community landscaping with walking paths and playgrounds.



In this blog series, we’re going to dig a little deeper and see how we can take this helpful information, and use it to help us in staging a pre-owned home. After all, you’ve got to be able to compete with new homes and well as other pre-owned homes if you’re putting your home on the market. This is a beauty contest you won’t want to lose!



Stay tuned for our next blog entry where we’ll discuss Item #1: Buyers want to see large kitchens with an island…



Want To Use This Article In Your Ezine or Website? You have my permission, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Ashley Whittenberger is the Principal and Chief Decorating Officer of Interiority Complex. You can visit Interiority Complex, access the free article archive of design prescriptions or learn more about home staging and creative design therapy at www.myinterioritycomplex.com. Ashley lives in Austin, Texas with her husband, son, two dogs, and two cats, and she is proud that she has learned to successfully live and thrive with her compulsive and chronic rearranging and re-designing disorders.







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How Do Real Estate Agents Benefit from Home Staging?

There are many ways that Home Staging benefits the Real Estate Agent.  First of all, research shows that Staged homes sell for more money and are on the market for a shorter amount of time compared to non-staged homes, thus lowering the Agent's marketing costs.  And lets face it, Staged homes quite simply show better!  Other Agents will be pleased to show the listing, bringing along more prospective buyers.  This may increase their profitability too.  Staged homes help grow the Agent's business as satisfied buyers and sellers more frequently refer the Agent who has Staged their listings.  And Staged homes look better in print ads, Internet listings and virtual tours.  All this lend credibility to the Real Estate Agent's marketing and selling skills. 
And the bottom line here is that clients are satisfied and the Real Estate Agent proves their worth and understanding of the importance of Home Staging.  Oh, and yes the Home Stager greatly benefits too.  It's a win-win-win situation.  What could be better!

If you are planning to sell your home soon, ask you Real Estate Agent to refer to HomeReady Homestaging.  If you do not have an Agent at this time, your Home Stager at HomeReady Home Staging can refer you to a Real Estate Agent who values the role of Home Staging in their business.
homeready@homereadyhomestaging.ca
613-894-4155

Reflections

I have actively been in the Home Staging business for six months now. This may sound corny but I know soo much more now than I did back in January when I though all I had to do was send out a few notices and referrals would fly to me. Sorry kido it doesn't work like that unless your spouse is a Realtor or your Daddy owns a construction company. What I have learned is that most of the time I work at marketing what I work at. What a surprise! I sell my Home Staging services by meeting people, getting to know them, educating them and then hopefully gaining their trust that I will do a good job for them or their clients. Then maybe I get to do what I love - making people's homes look wonderful so that buyers will say "Yes, this is the one we want to buy".

Back in January, I didn't know what Social marketing was (I'm still on a steep learning curve here), I didn't know that there were so many networking groups, I didn't know that there were so many fantastic people out there slogging away just like me. Wow! It takes a lot changing careers at my age (I won't tell you), leaving a regular salary, benefits and pension - I must be crazy! I have eyed this growing profession of Home Staging for several years before finally deciding last year to make my move. I am a seasoned voyeur of real estate listings and open houses and model homes. I'm sure I've driven several agents around the bend with incessant house viewings only to back out at the 11th hour. Our last agent won't speak to us now. My interest in helping people, fascination with decor and design and real estate all marry nicely together with Home Staging. It's perfect!

Now what about the next six months? Some things have taken an interesting turn. What I thought would happen hasn't - but other opportunities have opened new doors. I'm excited about new prospects and have left any disappointments far behind. Yes, it's a good life and I'm looking forward to providing a wide range of Home Staging services to all who need them. I am confident, have many years of life experience behind me and yes, I am really good at what I do!