In a very non-scientific analysis of every home sold OR off the market between $500,000 and $1,000,000 in the Triangle Area MLS we have determined....
Home marketing built for the sellers is not nearly effective as ads built to attract buyers. What does this mean? When agents try to make sellers feel good about the house and the price by letting the seller dictate the content.
What in the world does that mean? @ HomeDipity! we live in the world of buyers, what stimulates them and pushes them to action...and maybe more importantly, what doesn't.
Let's start with what stands out in sold homes.
Correct perspective photos.
Quiet comments with no abbreviations.
Life style oriented listings
What is turning buyers off in our non-scientific analysis?
Pretentious and threatening comments.
Drone pictures of home. 5% of off market (withdrawn/expired listings) had drone photos compared to <1% on sold homes (it was actually only 1 sale and it was on the market for 383 days).
Radioactive homes. You know the fancy pictures with glowing lights emitting from the interior of the home usually taken at dusk. 4% of off market had these photos, 0% of the sold.
The college chair in the living room. AKA putting ugly furniture in a home and calling
calling it staging. I know this sounds snarky but seriously, it makes the home look bad,
the seller look tasteless and these homes are all over the off market listings. On a
serious note, refer back to the correct perspective, if a buyer is looking at six homes
priced at $700,000.00 and one is staged with the college chair, three are occupied and
have "typical" furniture, two are vacant/non-furnished and one has what I would call "aspirational" decorating which one sells first? The aspirational or cleanest vacant
with latest colors.
We spend hours looking at data like this in three different markets so you don't have to. Knowledge is awesome, it will make your life less stressful. #rewardknowledge
call HomeDipity!
FUN FACT!
We actually found one house that was a triple offender! Actually a reverse "radio active" we will call the "Spooky Look", Drone+Spooky Look and the college sofa + love seat staging with the occasional hutch or dresser sitting around..
The exterior shots are very cool, but extremely out of perspective. Th interior makes you wonder "what is happening" it looks awkward. Awkward is the opposite of comfortable, we want buyers to be comfortable.
This is really a beautiful home, and a really bummer it was on the market so long with close to $50k in price reductions. Price is rarely the answer, marketing + style + iteration + advertising is almost always the answer.