The best tricks and secrets to get more people interested in buying your home / Gtres
The best tricks and secrets to get more people interested in buying your home / Gtres

The secret to selling a home isn’t limited to a competitive asking price, but also relies on how you present it to potential buyers. While there are certain things that you can’t change, like which way it faces or how old it is, there are lots of other variables in your home that you can enhance to make the house more attractive.

According to Jesús Duque, vice-president of Alfa Inmobiliaria, these variables can "make a property more or less saleable depending on whether how they are presented, the state of conservation, if they are better or worse decorated, the lighting, or how clean they are". In his opinion, although the price of the property is still very important, it is no longer the only thing that potential buyers are interested in.

Jesús has more than 20 years’ experience in the real estate sector and has seen that buyers also take into account the following eleven things:

  1. Volume and space: to sell a property it’s important to maximise the useable space and to remove all furniture that isn’t necessary for day to day living and which may make the living room, bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom or balcony (if there is one) look small.
  2. Cleanliness and a pleasant atmosphere: one of the things that is most noticeable when a property is shown is whether it’s clean or not. "As obvious as it may seem, the houses that are shown to prospective buyers aren’t always clean or properly aired out. When that happens, the sale will most likely be lost," warns Duque.
  3. Repair what is damaged or defective: "It gives a very bad image if a house has broken taps, blinds in poor condition, loose plug sockets, cracks in the walls or ceilings, or tiles falling off in kitchens and bathrooms... It is essential that anything that’s damaged or defective be repaired before a potential buyer sees it. Otherwise, the sale may fall through.”
  4. Bright colours and a good temperature: not too cold and not too hot, and this applies to both the room temperature and the colour scheme. Potential buyers should be made to feel comfortable when they visit a property. "The preference for colours is so subjective that the best thing for walls and ceilings is to have light, soft colours that won’t turn anyone off. Our recommendation is white, cream, light yellow or light grey," says Duque.
  5. De-personalise the home: as difficult as it is to set aside personal photos, the best thing when it comes to showing people around a house is not to leave any traces of the current owners. "If we want the buyer to project themselves onto the property, we have to offer them a space that is as neutral as possible in terms of emotions," says the vice-president of Alfa Inmobiliaria. That's why he also recommends removing items that can overload the space, such as paintings and plants.
  6. Diversify your sales channels: although most property listings for sale is done on the internet these days, hanging the traditional ‘For Sale’ sign in the front window or in the doorway is still a good way to help reach a greater number of buyers.
  7. Advertising with clear photographs: in order to attract the interest of potential buyers, try to post a minimum of 10 photos on your property listing which are taken during the day, with as much light as possible and with a wide-angle lens to give a feeling of spaciousness in every room in the house. "It is important that in addition to good photographs, there is a text that explains the features of the home and emphasises its strengths.”
  8. The virtual tour: buyers like to take a ‘virtual tour’ of the property before deciding to go visit it. This is possible nowadays thanks to online technology. "We know that time is money, so a preview of the house will allow you to do viewings only with those people who really fit the profile of the house, so you can avoid wasting time and money with those who are just curious," says Duque.
  9. Value the area: although buyers look at the price, size, orientation, height and age of a property, more and more people are looking for information about the neighbourhood where the house is located and what local services there are, like schools, health centres, bars, restaurants and cultural attractions. “If the property being sold is in a private housing estate with its own garage, gym, tennis court or swimming pool, it’s very important that this information appears in the listing to attract potential buyers."
  10. Set the price: it is essential that the asking price of the property is clear. Try to round the price down to the lowest figure possible in order to have a greater impact on potential buyers. "It’s not the same to advertise your property for sale for 200,000 euros as for 199,000 euros.”
  11. Provide information about additional costs: buyers also want to have a true idea of how much a property will cost, not just to buy it but also after the purchase is made. Expenses such as those derived from the maintenance of the communal areas of a residential estate and real estate taxes. "Giving this type of information is a sign of transparency on the part of the seller and generates trust in the buyer," concludes Duque.

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