In the third of my series of guest blogs, I was interested to hear from Gregg Kantor, co-founder of Flyp about the importance of first impressions when selling a home.
Gregg co-founded Flyp based on a simple but often under-appreciated notion. Every home needs to look its best to sell for the highest price. They set out to assist homeowners in presenting their often tired, sometimes vacant properties into fully realised homes.
However even a combination of a simple proposition and a desirable outcome doesn’t mean you’re going to be able to convince the market of the merits of your product.
Fortunately for Gregg and his team, this wasn’t an issue they had to worry about for very long. One of their first projects sold for £125,000 more than the original price, attracting 30 viewings and three offers in the process.
Having completed over 75 projects since, I wanted Gregg to share what he’s learned about the importance of presentation in the sales process.
Your property might be one of London’s most prized real estate assets, but if it doesn’t feel like a home, there’s a good chance you’re not going to achieve maximum value.
It sounds like the most obvious thing in the world - present your home well and it’s more likely to sell, but I am continually surprised by how many homeowners are unable or unwilling to look at their own spaces objectively.
I think that people become used to living a certain way without considering the unintended consequences - if for example your home is cluttered, buyers may assume (wrongly) that you don’t have enough storage space, when the reality might be that you just don’t like throwing anything away!
I want to talk about the strategic thinking behind what we do, and share some of the concepts we implement when preparing a home for sale.
Your home has competition
Buyers move quickly, with the average person viewing three properties a day and only five in total before committing to one.
Your property either impresses from the moment a buyer crosses the threshold, or gets lost in a sea of average viewings - unfortunately there’s rarely any middle ground here.
In fact, studies have shown that it takes an average of seven seconds for a buyer to make a decision on whether they like or dislike a home.
Your home should speak to a buyer
No home is perfect for everyone. Taking the time to understand who your ideal buyer might be makes designing your home and preparing it for viewings much easier.
People rarely do this, but ask your estate agent who they consider to be the target demographic. Think about what attracted you to your home in the first place, what stage of your life you were at, and what you felt it offered you. Chances are your potential buyers are in a similar mindset.
Make a good first impression
Your entrance should set the tone for the rest of the home. Try and place elegant uncluttered decor in the hallway, such as a stylish sideboard, a set of designer light fittings, or a well chosen coat of paint. Light a scented candle an hour before a viewing.
Create a lifestyle
A beautifully designed home will get a buyer to fall in love, a well designed home will get your property sold. You can’t have one without the other. In the words of William Morris “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful”
In a post pandemic world, buyers have high expectations of what their home needs to offer. Think again about demographic, and adjust decor, layout and furnishings to reflect this. Spaces to work, relax and exercise are all important.
Reap the benefits
If you dedicate time and knowledge to creating a stylish, aesthetically pleasing but most importantly, authentic lived-in space, you’ll see the results almost instantly. It’s a smart investment that will pay for itself when you sell faster and for more money.
Things I’ve been paying attention to, watching or reading this week
After returning from University and starting work, on Thursday nights I’d meet my friends at a bar in Maida Vale (which is now a cinema). At closing time most of them would head to town.
Being the conscientious sort, I would go home and watch This Week. The on screen chemistry between Andrew Neil, Michael Portillio and Diane Abbot was just brilliant, and I was sad when it ended in 2019.
When a friend sent me this podcast with Andrew Neil, in which he looks back on his 50 year career in the media, I couldn’t wait to listen - it’s well worth the investment of time.
“What is the plus of a market economy? It allows outsiders to come in. To be insurgents and to challenge the incumbents”
Another week, another Adam Grant podcast. This time with Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize winning author of the book Thinking, Fast & Slow. I read it years ago and I think it might be time to dust it off.
“You really have to distinguish judgement from decision making. Most of the intuitions we’ve studied were fallacies of judgement rather than decision making. The advice is not to do without intuition, it’s to delay it. When you have formed an intuition, you are no longer taking in information, you are just rationalising or confirming your own decision”
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