Selling Houses with Curb Appeal and Design Psychology
Curb appeal is the most important challenge you'll face when selling your home. You must make home shoppers feel like getting out of their car to see what's behind the front door. Imagine prospective buyers driving up and examining your property for the first time. Your goal is to have them exclaim, "What a darling home!" Or, "What a splendid house."
Curb appeal has grown up, and using innovative Design Psychology techniques for marketing homes puts curb allure to work, enticing buyers to come inside your home. One way to make your home outshine the others on the market, upgrading your exterior, doesn't have to cost you a lot of money.
Restore, the outlet store for Habitat for Humanity, resells donated home building materials. They sell light fixtures, window hardware, paint, house numbers, and even white picket fencing. Restore also lets you bargain on merchandise, which means that the tagged price isn't always the final price. You can even sign up for Restore's mailing list and receive notices of half-price sales. We found a great exterior light fixture at Restore for one of our fixers for only $25. The same fixture, available at our local home building supply outlet, sells for $99.
Suppliers and Exquisite Details
To sell your home for the highest profit, you need to spend less for improvements to make more; yet spending a little extra can yield significantly more return on your money. Adding exquisite details can add dollars to your bank account. For instance, if you don't find what you're looking for at a bargain price, visit an upscale retailer and look for similar items on sale.
If you use ugly, cheap, or tacky fixtures, you'll actually make it harder to sell your home by lowering your home's curb appeal. Think of it this way: spending $100 more for a quality light fixture will save you at least one, and possibly more, mortgage payment. That means that your $100 fixture was really an investment, rather than an expense.
Curb Appeal: Create Inviting Access to Your Home
An alluring home setting begins with the access to your home. A problem with many newer homes is that developers don't provide a separate walkway to the front door. You don't want to make buyers walk around cars and trip over driveway edges to navigate to your front door. If you have no dedicated walkway to the front door, add a simple pathway. A wandering pathway to the front door psychologically feels more inviting than a straight-shot walkway.
If you have a plain, straight concrete walkway, create undulating flower beds on either side to encourage a relaxed, friendly feeling. Adding a water feature near your entry walk also enhances the ambiance because moving water relaxes the body and mind and refreshes the spirit. You want to create a feeling of balance and harmony, like that found in nature.
Welcome Buyers with Friendly Accessories:
- Wind chimes add pleasure to your buyers' sense of hearing.
- Potted plants, such as flowers or soft ferns, are friendly, but avoid spiked plants with thorns near the doorway.
- Floral baskets with bright yellow and white flowers show up best day and night.
- A pair of rocking chairs, a double glider, or a porch swing will convey a friendly neighborhood and invite potential buyers to sit and chat.
- A welcome mat also adds a homey touch.
Avoid Unwelcoming Attributes
- Repair cracks in the driveway with cement epoxy.
- Clean spider webs off eaves, windows and porch.
- Repair or replace broken doorbells.
- Clean or replace dirty or burnt out exterior lights.
Buyers forgive little inadequacies in your home if they love it from the first time they see it. So go a few extra steps beyond curb appeal and lure your prospective buyers inside with Design Psychology methods. Take a little extra time and spend just a bit more money, to sell your home fast, and for more money.
Copyright © 2005 Jeanette J. Fisher - All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
Jeanette Fisher helps home owners create homes for glorious living and top-dollar sales. She teaches Design Psychology and real estate investing. Jeanette is the author of many books including "Sell Your Home for Top Dollar--Fast!" and "Credit Help! Get the Credit You Need to Buy Real Estate." For more information on Design Psychology, see http://designpsych.com/ Free Design Psychology for Selling Houses report http://sellfast.info/ "Credit Tips for Mortgage Financing" http://recredithelp.com/
Related Articles:
How Much Is Your Popcorn Worth? Powerful Lessons In Marketing & The Psychology Of Selling - Part 4
Let's continue to discuss the various marketing principles that are involved in "popcorn marketing":4. Engaging the "Senses" You may already know that people usually buy for 'emotional' reasons more than 'intellectual' reasons.
How Much Is Your Popcorn Worth? Powerful Lessons In Marketing & The Psychology Of Selling - Part 1
In the following 'special report,' I will reveal some very powerful marketing strategies and psychological motivators that can easily help you make more profits from your business, no matter what business you're in.Be sure to read it thoroughly, and take notes as needed so that you can take maximum advantage of the information being covered.
The Death of God, the Mission of Modern Psychology, and Me
The question, "Is God Dead?", first entered my consciousness when I was ten or eleven years old. I saw it on the cover of a Life magazine, and it's lingered in my mind ever since.
Gay Men Psychology
Gay men are said to be usually third or further born from the same mother. You might wish to check it out sometime.
Design Psychology: Beds and Emotional Well-Being
The bed represents the beginning and ending of life. In the past, people were conceived, born, and died in the same bed.
Hear The Isle Of Light Webcast of Dr. Seth Roberts, Professor of Psychology and New York Times Bestselling Author of The Shangri-La Diet
Seth Roberts, Ph.D., is an associate professor of psychology at the University of California at Berkeley.and the New York Times bestselling author of The Shangri-La Diet. His work has appeared in major scientific journals such as The Lancet and Behavioral and Brain Sciences as well as in The New York Times, Harpers and on Good Morning America. Dr. Roberts was recently interviewed on The Isle Of Light Internet Radio Show by host Chyrene Pendleton in a fascinating discussion called, "A Simple, Healthy & Peaceful Way To Lose Weight Eating What You Want". Click MP3 link below to listen now:
http://theisleoflight.com/TalkShows/SethRoberts.mp3
Using Psychology of Color to Influence the Mood of a Room
The living room is the setting which will blend the people in your life into the occasions of your home. It is the hardest room to decorate because it has to be versatile, comfortable, and entertaining.
Top Graphic Designer Karen Saunders Makes Color Psychology in Advertising as Simple as Paint-by-Numbers
Karen Saunders, award-winning graphic designer, has just posted the third in a series of free articles on her website. With her new article, she shows people how choosing the right color scheme for their marketing pieces begins the selling process. The article," Advertising and Color," can be found at http://buyappealmarketing.blogspot.com
Trading Psychology
Dear Fellow-Trader.
Doctor, Author Of New Book, Teaches Trial Lawyers Sports Psychology Techniques And Mental Toughness Skills
Like world-class athletes, trial lawyers can benefit from being calm, focused, confident and optimistic when they go to court or when they are involved in tough negotiations. Dr. Granat is offering the same kinds of seminars and coaching that he has offered to many world class atheltes to law firms, bar associations, law schools and institutes for continuing legal education.