Is it important to provide somewhere for people to sit down in the home you're selling? What about music?

Question

I'm working on strategies to improve the desirability of homes I list for sale and was wondering what your opinions are about providing a place for people to sit when they come look at your house.

My gut tells me that providing a comfortable place to sit will help keep people in the house longer and also provide a place to fill out paperwork (hopefully offer paperwork).

Also, I'm wondering if having a radio or CD player running with soft music helps.

Since I'm not a Realtor, I don't have the opportunity to see reactions or hear feedback from buyers.  What's your advice?

Bill Gulley · Answer

Get a decent card table and 4 chairs, drape a table cloth over it. Set up your computer. Have your sign in pad on the table with pens.

An areomatic candle is nice, apple pie of some such in the kitchen.

Turn the music off when someone comes in, you'll be listening to Bach and they may hate Bach. I won't be long in a place with twangie old country either.

Have you contracts ready to sign at the table! You can fill in most of it without an offer price and close the offer in just a few minutes in writing!

Greet them,  ASK THEM IF THEY ARE WORKING WITH ANOTHER REALTOR! Ask them to sign in as you need a record of who has been in the home (it's always for insurance purposes, LOL, no, really it's bug the heck out of them later on if they don't buy today.....I've told some that too! ) and if they have any questions at all to please ask. If you're not busy, if they are there 15 minutes later, there is usually some interest. You might approach them and point out some feature, "not sure you noticed the XYZ, what do you think of that" if they talk, go ahead and work'em, if not, give them privacy, and ask if they have any questions before they leave. You should have thier name, number and addresson the sign in sheet, so don't bug them there or push. You can follow up later. Good luck  :)

John A. · Answer

Good point.  I meant in general terms of how a warm beverage may influence a buyer.

J Scott · Answer

If you're the seller looking to sell to a retail buyer, you shouldn't be at the property when the seller is walking through.

Dell Schlabach · Answer

When I used to sell my own houses (not listed on mls) we actually baked cinnamon rolls in the ovens just before open house, served them, had fresh coffee brewing as well as tea and a bowl of fresh fruit available.

I have also done pizza party open houses, especially when I could get the pizza places to distribute my Open House flyers for free the previous week.

I always had music playing in the background and had a repeating Pachelbels Cannon with Ocean Waves, playing on mini Bose system.

I am also what you would consider a partial stager, I basically do everything except furniture, I do nice barstools (our most requested staging items from a sale) I also have a very nice dining room table and chairs that I use if appropriate.  We do a lot of 1,200 to 1,500 sq ft houses and many times adding furniture really makes the rooms look small, or makes it more obvious how small a bedroom is for example.

I have three houses in the system that are 2,500-3,500 sq ft that I will probably do full staging for the first time. Without, the space looks REALLY empty.

These days I use a realtor to sell all my houses, we have sold four houses this year, two sold the first weekend, the other two sold the 14 dom or less, last year we were 28DOM on average. Not quite as fast as J Scott. But not sure its because of the partial staging : - )

Good luck on your sale.

John A. · Answer

This topic made me think of how sensory input can affect behavior.  Look at this article about priming: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/340408/description/The_Hot_and_Cold_of_Priming

This could lead to some interesting experiments when showing a house.  Scented candles of apple pie in the kitchen is a good idea.  What about offering a cup of coffee or hot tea?  The sound of a crackling fire in a room with a fireplace?

J Scott · Answer

Personally, I never just partially stage.  That said, I know plenty of investors who do.  I have no idea if it works just as well, almost as well, or not at all -- too many variables to make that determination.

John Moore · Answer

I prefer an empty house; rooms appear larger; no distraction with items in rooms that may or not be to the prospests taste; showing the house is an art that needs to be fined tuned, having some insight into what the prospect is looking for also helps; prospects are knowledgeable the person showing the house needs to be
as well.  Again I prefer an empty house and let the prospect paint their own pictures as to how their furniture would fit in.  A clean house and yard is also important.

Bill Gulley · Answer

Ahh, that's different. An empty house is usually a totally empty house. If you leave something it could be stolen or damaged.

The price range has alot to do with it too, you'll get who knows who in a 49K house, it will be different in a 249K home. The higher priced homes you can leave a card table as I mentioned above.

I doubt I'd leave a stereo in any house, even if it were staged.

The cost of staging goes to the home price as well. If you move alot of properties, many have deals worked out with furniture stores. :)

Michael Woodward · Answer

Bill Gulley, Lisa Maceda: When I got your responses I realized that my question was somewhat ambiguous.  The scenario I'm talking about is of a vacant house being shown by a Realtor.  I won't be able to be there so I won't have the opportunity to prep with scents or lighting before hand. I'm wondering if having a place to sit is one of those "must-haves".

Thanks for the feedback about the music. That's a good point.... one person's symphony is another person's chalkboard scratching.

J  Scott - Do you ever partially stage your houses with just a few things? I think I'm going to start pricing full staging into my projects but I'm wondering how far I really need to go with it.

Lisa Maceda · Answer

I totally agree with a nice familiarfood smell whether it's a candle or some fresh baked cookies to offer your potential buyers.  Also, if your are in a quiet area, open the windows (weather-permitting).  This is great because you get some nice fresh air, and people can experience the tranquility.  I think if you want to stage - that is a fantastic idea, but do it right.  If you have an odd-shaped living room, staging it with the help of a professional will help people understand how thay can utilize the space,  but if it's a small space, beware of making it more obvious with lots of furniture. A well thought out sitting area with a sign in sheet and contracts is an excellent idea, I would even go so far as to point out features of the house that others they are looking at might not have and some community information to help people start thinking about their new life there!  Good luck!

Is it important to provide somewhere for people to sit down in the home you're selling? What about music?

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