When selling a home, the prospective buyer must become the owner before the seller has sold. As a seller this can sound and feel strange but it is true. I read an article the other day that said ‘there can not be 2 different owners of a home’. In other words, the buyer can’t imagine owning a home that the seller has clearly not yet been able to give up.
For example, when we show buyers through a home where the seller is ‘staying out of our way’ by hiding in the rec room, the showing becomes more tense, quiet and almost awkward at times. When we walk down to that rec room, it can suddenly become pistols at dawn. There are 2 owners (current owner and the buyer) staring at each other. The buyer, who is hopefully contemplating owning this home, will have a much harder time imagining time spent in the house (and rec room) if the current owner is there in that space.
There needs to be a clean cut, almost anonymous handover in order for a lot of buyer’s to become willing to jump and make the offer. If there is a grey, uncomfortable moment, it can be enough to knock a buyer off balance and have them ‘like it’ but keep looking.
As soon as the home goes up for sale, the best scenario is for the seller to already consider the home sold. This can be tough to do but it really helps. As we have mentioned numerous times before, your home then becomes a product. You are selling a product that a buyer needs to have an emotional connection with. The seller at that point, is not part of that product.
This is where the challenge can come in. Residential re-sale is inherently an emotional process. The seller needs to (as best as they can) deal with their emotions up front. Once the home is up for sale, it is time to step back and pass the emotional torch to the buyer.
They then need to feel that excitement and want to proceed with an offer. As soon as that buyer puts their owner shoes on, the whole process of getting and successfully negotiating an offer becomes much more simple.
To discuss your home, please feel free to contact us at your convenience.
THEbTEAM
Thank-you to Scott Webb for the photo.