How To Turn A “Con” Into A “Pro”
/Does your home have a unique, quirky, or less than desirable feature? If so, think about how you could turn a potential “con” into a “pro”. This tip is for homeowners & sellers alike.
Turning a con into a pro may simply take learning more about your home’s feature, or it may require a small change.
A couple examples of how we’ve turned “cons” into “pros” include:
This tip is for homeowners & sellers: Learn about the feature in question! We recently had a listing with vintage metal & wood cabinets in the kitchen & dining room. We knew buyers could perceive the style & placement as “dated”, so we did a little investigating. It turned out that these cabinets were actually pretty special. By educating ourselves & buyers, we were able to turn what could have been considered an outdated feature into something uniquely cool.
When selling
Show off what makes your home unique. From the type of materials used, to the history of your home, credentials of it’s architect, setting or interesting factoids, don’t leave anything out when communicating your home’s charm & uniqueness.
Make sure that your Realtor “gets it”. If your Realtor can’t get excited about what your home has to offer, they aren’t going to be able to sell it to buyers. Your Realtor should be able to present your home in a way that makes it feel special.
Overcoming location challenges. If your location presents a challenge- like it’s too close to a heavy rental area or the football stadium, or the neighborhood isn’t popular, think about ways to help buyers overcome this objection.
A few years ago, we were marketing a gorgeous home across the street from some large apartment buildings. I knew the buildings would turn off potential buyers, but the sellers, having lived in the house for 16 years & raised 4 children in the home had nothing but great things to say about their location.
I asked them to write out what they loved about their home, it’s location & the neighborhood, then we had a professional videographer shoot a video of them talking about all the things they treasured about their home’s location.
We had the video cued & ready to go on their PC, which sat on the kitchen countertop with a note saying "Watch Me!" It was clear through conversations with the buyers at closing that the video and other neighborhood information provided is what sold the house.
Whether it’s a video, letter or list, giving a glimpse into what your home’s location is really like can definitely help sell what could be perceived as a challenging location. Just be sure to keep it honest & genuine.
Does your home have a feature that’s got you scratching your head? Are you unsure how to best showcase your home for sale? Get in touch- we're always here to help!