When the time comes to sell your home, your real estate agent is going to be marketing all of your “house data” from square footage to the size of your yard. All of these details combined with the updates you’ve done from installing granite countertops to the luxury soaking tub in the Owner’s Suite are certainly important. However, when you’re trying to think of all of the features of your home, often one of the most important factors is overlooked. That factor is the lifestyle buyers will see when they tour your home.
Interview Real Estate Agents like the Insiders Realty Team to see how they plan on marketing your home. Find someone who understands how to market a lifestyle in addition to all of the other details!
A buyer might say they want a 4 bedroom, 3 bath house with a minimum of 2,500 square feet, a game room and an acre lot. However, what they really might be looking for is a home that has plenty of space for their 3 growing children to play and have their friends over. A yard where they can learn how to play catch and have family football games and Summer cookouts. As well as extra room in for games and movie nights.
So if you’re thinking of selling your home, it’s important to think about the kind of lifestyle a buyer would experience in your house in addition to the list of features and square footage.
Let’s Determine What Lifestyle Your Home Conveys?
Ask yourself these questions:
- What is your favorite room in your house and why?
- If you had 10K to renovate any room in your home, which room would you choose and why?
- Is there a room in your home that could be converted to something more functional? What room would you convert and what would you change it to?
- Which room in your home do you spend the most time in and why?
- What is your favorite neighborhood feature or nearby attraction?
Examples Of Features That Highlight A Certain Lifestyle
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Open concept, huge kitchen and built in bar: Entertainer’s Dream
- Private backyard with fire pit and lots of space: For the Outdoor Lover
- Home Theater: For the Ultimate Movie Buffs
- Close to hiking trails and bike paths: Active and Adventurous Lifestyle
How To Prep Your Home To Achieve That On-brand Lifestyle
Highlight the rooms that feature your home’s lifestyle by staging them and clearing out anything that takes away from how the room is meant to be used. (If you have a great kitchen but it’s cluttered with food boxes, appliances, or mail, organize them, or try to eliminate the things you don’t use on a day to day basis so the space still shows well).
Do you have a room in your house that has become the “catch all” room (meaning laundry and anything else you want to get out of the way piles up here)? Maybe you converted a bedroom into a craft room but that meant going from 3 bedrooms to 2. When you’re thinking of selling your house, you want to optimize every space in your house and show what kind of lifestyle a buyer will have if they live there!
This might mean turning that extra guest room into a home office to show work from home buyers that there is plenty of space for them to have their own office. You could clean it out and stage it to be an office before putting your house on the market. It could mean converting a unique room back to what it was originally meant to be to appeal to more buyers. There are a ton of ways you can show off your home’s lifestyle.
Do you have a space that could be improved prior to listing your home that would attract buyers?
If you are considering selling and you have a space you’d like to renovate, pick that space as the one to focus on and improve prior to putting it on the market. A little bit of elbow grease combined with good staging can go a long way!
Dig deep and think about the lifestyle your home creates. Is it a relaxing retreat? An entertainer’s dream? How would you best describe your home? You’ll want to highlight features that paint the picture of that lifestyle so that it is evident to buyers who are looking for that. Maybe you have an awesome Master Suite but the bathroom is looking outdated and the walk in closet is looking more crowded than spacious. Consider installing a new rainfall shower head, replacing the mirror above the sink with a more modern style, swap out the light fixtures, add new rugs, paint the walls a soothing shade and roll up fluffy white towels. You’ll start to create that spa feel and show off what an awesome space you have!
BONUS IDEA: Write a note to future buyers that you can leave out for showings. Offer them to help themselves to a glass of wine (or whichever beverage you choose to leave out) and tell them to spend some time enjoying (whichever space you think would best sell your home) so they can imagine themselves living there.
