Attracting Home Buyers With Psychology: Does It Really Work?
The concept of professional home staging is not new. In fact, it became a popular marketing tool among West Coast real estate communities more than 30 years ago. In light of the recent housing market decline, homeowners are struggling to find creative ways to sell their home. Many real estate agents and homeowners are enlisting the services of “home experts” to professionally prepare the home for sale. What exactly is home staging? While there are many different “tag lines”, from various sources within the industry, they can be summed up as “using what the homeowner already has to prepare and” positioning “the home to appeal to the masses. sale. “
With the dozens of new shows on HGTV, the home buying and selling population is catching on to this thing called “staging.” So the question remains: Does it work? What does psychology have to do with this? The answer is yes, it works and psychology is a key element in preparing your home for the market. Let’s look at the definition of “psychology” first. Webster’s dictionary definition is: “the science of the mind or of mental states and processes.” How does this apply to buying or selling a home?
It’s pretty simple actually! A professional home stager will usually have the home seller save photos and personal moments, remove clutter like knickknacks, countertop appliances, and other items that reflect YOUR lifestyle and the way YOUR family lives at home. The organizer will start with a clean slate, so to speak. Through the placement of up-to-date furniture, lighting, fixtures and artwork, and a psychological appeal known as “emotional connection points,” a mental process is brought into play. Creating “vignettes” or short scenes of what life might looks like a person might use a space, a buyer, for example, “mentally move” into the house. It is psychological persuasion. Here is a mental exercise to prove this point. Relax and close your eyes, imagine in your mind, a long and stressful work day. You come home, fill the Jacuzzi tub in the master bathroom with hot water and clouds of fragrant bubbles.
You climb up for a relaxing bath, sip a glass of wine while watching the dancing reflections in the candlelit room … Okay, you can go out now! The point is that, by using psychology … the “science of the mind,” an entrepreneur can attract a potential buyer and help them imagine living there for themselves. By “organizing” the master bathroom with fluffy towels, beautiful candles surrounding the tub, and a serving tray with a glass of wine, the buyer “connect emotionally” to this space. This is just one example, but there are many emotional connections that can be strategically deployed throughout the home.
While there are still some “non-believers” in Home Staging, it has been shown to be to very valuable marketing tool. It’s not just about painting the walls and storing extra “stuff.” To be successful, there is that critical element of the human psyche that must be addressed.