Sell Houses Fast & Top Dollar: Design Psychology

How would you like to start a bidding war for your home, ending with a sales price greater than the asking price -- all within your home's first three hours on the market? That's the kind of results you can expect when you prepare your home for marketing, using Design Psychology methods!

Design Psychology's innovative interior design strategies go well beyond normal cleaning, painting, and repairs, and have been proven to increase homeowner profit while shortening a home's market time. And best of all, you don't have to spend a lot of money to enjoy the benefits Design Psychology can provide!

Here are a few tips for maximizing your sales price, while minimizing the out-of-pocket cost of selling your home:

First, you must emotionally detach yourself from your home and begin to think of it as simply a piece of property that needs to be sold. In the end, your goal is to make your home feel like a well-appointed vacation property and to spur buyers' imaginations with dreams of enjoying a new life in your luxurious home -- soon, and at top dollar!

Imagine your home as a five-star hotel room with a kitchen. Set out your best china, crystal, and finest linens, and then start packing everything you won't need, including all personal items, such as family photos, memorabilia, and other clutter. Your aim is to create a luxurious feeling for prospective buyers -- because buyers will pay more for a home that makes them feel pampered and comfortable.

Once you've got the interior of the house feeling warm and inviting, it's time to take inventory around the rest of your property. Take a notebook, and make three columns on your notepad: "No Cost Changes," "Small Cost Changes," and "Dream List Changes." Then start at the street, pretending you're a home buyer, seeing the property for the first time. It may help to have a friend with you during this process, in order to be more objective.

Walk around the property, just as a potential buyer would, making notes about everything that could use improvement, such as landscaping and exterior paint, listing each change in the proper column. Then walk to the front door, enter the house, and then walk through, letting the natural flow of the layout guide you all the way to the backyard.

Keep a constant eye out for things that need attention, jotting them down on your notepad as you walk around the property. Notate everything you find that detracts from the serene, inviting feeling you're trying to create.

Once you've compiled your list, begin with tackling the items in the "No Cost Changes" column. They could be things like pulling weeds, moving plants from crowded garden areas and transplanting them elsewhere, or rearranging furniture, to show off your home's architectural features or to make rooms seem more spacious.

Always try to see your home as a prospective buyer would see it. Set up enticing vignettes throughout the house, such as an intimate breakfast table for two in the master bedroom or a book sitting on an end table in the reading nook.

Since under-furnished rooms allow buyers to imagine their own furnishings in a home, it'll be worthwhile to sell or place unnecessary furniture in storage. If you find that hard to do, compare the cost of moving a piece of furniture to the cost of replacing it, and then ask yourself if the piece is worth keeping.

For tackling the items on your list that will cost money to address, always make sure the expense will be worth the benefit.

Using new interior design ideas to prepare your home for sale can speed your sale and get you a bigger check at closing.

Copyright c.2004 Jeanette Fisher All rights reserved.

Professor Jeanette Fisher, author of Doghouse to Dollhouse for Dollars, Joy to the Home, and other books teaches Real Estate Investing and Design Psychology. For more articles, tips, reports, newsletters, and sales flyer template, see http://www.doghousetodollhouse fordollars.com/pages/5/index.htm

---

Prepare Your House for a Successful Sale

Whether you list with an agent or sell on your... Read More

Kings Bay Georgia Real Estate - Be Picky When You Choose your Realtor!

I have been a mortgage lender for many years and... Read More

Buying A Holiday Home in Rural Ireland

Ireland has recently witnessed an upsurge in the number of... Read More

The Key to Real Estate Investing Success Revealed!

How did you get into real estate investing? Did you... Read More

You Wanna Get High With Me?

Being a home inspector is great. It's fun, it's interesting,... Read More

Cant Rent a Work Zone

So you've picked up your first (or third, or tenth)... Read More

Take A Shotgun Approach

An effective real estate advertising strategy entails a 'shotgun' approach.... Read More

Dont Get Stuck Having To Deal With The Sellers Household Hazardous Wastes - After You Move In!

I have a confession to make!I was just outside with... Read More

Why Invest In Property?

Why property, some people ask when looking for an investment.... Read More

Selling Your Home? A Warning About Attachments

Before you list you home for sale, determine what you... Read More

Encouraging Debt

Most of us don't talk about money, finances, credit, debt....Young... Read More

How to Use the Internet to Help Your Apartment or House Hunting

So you are looking for an apartment to rent or... Read More

10 Things You Shouldnt Do When Youre Buying a Home

Home Buying Don'tsYour home buying process is well underway. The... Read More

Finance Your Real Estate Investment Properties

Unlike traditional residential real estate mortgages, real estate investment financing... Read More

How to Get Started in the Real Estate Game Fixing and Flipping Houses

If you're looking to get started investing in real estate... Read More

Real Estate Investing ? ?The Neighborhood Factor?

Real estate investing can be a dream career when the... Read More

New Housing Starts Do Not Guarantee Aftermarket Sales

We have been studying a trend of new home buyers... Read More

Walnut Creek Real Estate

Looking to relocate to a Californian suburb with a low... Read More

At Home In Your Overseas Home

Homeownership, in any form, is a big step for most... Read More

Selling by Owner = Saving by Owner?

According to the National Association of Realtors, For Sale By... Read More

Should You Accept A Full Purchase Offer For Your Note or Not?

You could be facing a dilemma when considering payout options... Read More

Destin Florida Triples In 3 Years

Do you want to see something that is absolutely amazing?... Read More

Make Money As A Slumlord

Be a slumlord? Okay, I got your attention, now the... Read More

Boom or Bust

For those looking to invest in the real estate market?keep... Read More

Creative Real Estate Investing

With a job that paid $3.40 an hour, I saved... Read More

Realities of Real Estate Investing

If you are anything like me, you are always looking... Read More

Property Investment Strategy: Securing Properties with Little or No Deposit

Property Investing often requires creative strategies to make it successful.... Read More

A Simple Step by Step Aproach to Fail Your Way to a Million Dollars

If You want to be Financially Successful you need to... Read More

7 Marketing Methods for Real Estate Coaches

You shower, shampoo, dress your best, check to see if... Read More

Property Investing Secrets 3

Property Investing Secrets: When you Make Property Easy to Buy... Read More

Unravelling The Real Estate Buying Process in Canada

If you're a foreign national thinking about investing in the... Read More

Using Color Psychology to Sell Your Home

When painting your home for resale, choosing the right colors... Read More

Transforming Doghouses into Dollhouses

Successful real estate investing depends largely on a correct assessment... Read More