Do you remember your first date? What do you remember about it? Was it fun, awkward or nerve-wracking? Was it a disaster or was it a magical night you’ll remember forever (cue cheesy-nostalgic music)?

Whatever your experience was, it had a significant impact on the way you felt about that person. That’s the whole point after all, to learn more about someone and determine whether or not they are right for you.

Dating is a lot like selling a home in this way. When buyers see your home online 1 of 2 things will happen. Either they’ll set up an appointment (“date”) to see your home, or they’ll “swipe left” and move on to the next one.

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My point is, just like in dating, first impressions matter. You don’t want people to need to look for a reason to like your home. You just want them to feel butterflies!

So, here are a few ways that selling a home is like dating, and what you can do to improve your odds.

You’re Putting Your Best Face Forward

If you’re serious about selling your home, you need to put your best face forward. Just like a dating profile picture is generally the most flattering picture the person could find of themselves, you need to have great pictures of your home.

Hiring a professional photographer that can take visually stunning pictures and spruce them up on Photoshop can make your home look incredible! But “best face forward” isn’t just about the quality of the pictures, it’s improving the entire presentation to make your home more desirable. You want to make sure that the home is clean, tidy, orderly, and just looks it’s absolute best BEFORE the pictures are snapped.

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Hide your crazy

Another part of putting your best face forward is to de-clutter and remove anything that could make people feel uneasy, or the space feel cramped. Just like you might hold off on revealing the quirkiest aspects of your personality on a date, you may want to pack up your 2000+ beanie baby collection or take down those pinup girl posters before inviting buyers into your home.

Being “Fake” Will Backfire

There’s a fine line between putting your best face forward and being deceitful. Fake, or outdated profile pictures are a cliché of the online dating world. You’ve seen countless skits and movie scenes where someone shows up to a date only to find that the person is 25 years older or 80 pounds heavier than their picture led on.

I can Photoshop a luxury pool into your backyard and make it look as real as you and me. But, if it’s not actually there, then we have just committed the same sin as the aforementioned online dater.

The real problem is the trust has been broken. The shoe-store running a bait-n-switch campaign is one thing, but when it comes to dating and real estate, opening with deception will generally kill the deal.

You’re not doing yourself any favors by misleading your potential buyers. Remember, there is a lot of due diligence that goes into the home buying process. If you’re hiding something or lying about something, a buyer with a good agent is generally going to find out eventually.

Ask People Out More Often, Get More Dates

There are a lot of prospective buyers out there. They won’t all check out your home and actually consider buying it though. Just like there may be a lot of people out there you would be interested in dating, but not all of them are going to reciprocate that interest in you.

But here’s what we do know. There is a certain percentage of the buyer population out there that would be interested in your home. But how many of them will actually find your home and check it out? They may be filtering their search by price range or square footage, and missing yours by $2,000 or 25 square feet. Is the home priced right?

What I’m saying is, there are a lot of buyers that would love your home if they ever saw it, but they just aren’t seeing it.

The solution?

The best solution to this problem is to be proactive. That means using creative marketing and advertising to push your home out to these buyers in a way that they can’t miss it. This will inevitably lead to more showings, and thus more offers.

You May Need to Meet a Lot of People to Find “The One”

Few people marry the first person they ever went on a date with. It usually takes a few tries before you find the one that is everything you ever wanted.

Fielding offers from buyers is a similar experience.

You will get offers on your home. But you don’t want just any offer, you want the perfect one. You want an overly qualified buyer who is in love with your home and willing to pay the price you want.

In all honestly, that is a lot to ask for. But, if you are serious about getting what you want you can do it. Remember what we said about asking out a lot of buyers… I mean, using marketing to proactively seek buyers. More potential buyers leads to more offers. Each offer is another chance at finding the one.

Want to Know What I’ll Do to Sell Your Home? Contact Me Today!

So, the more offers you get, the better your chances are of getting everything you want. This is why marketing is so important when selling your home. An effective marketing campaign can make all the difference between getting exactly what you want, or settling for something less.

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So there it is! Feel free to leave comments below and subscribe to my blog.