What Emotions Does Your Home Evoke?

Selling your home is an emotional journey for homeowners however it’s equally emotionally for buyers. In fact, the number one reason buyers purchase a property is because of the emotion it evokes in them when they tour the right home. Buyers may shop with both logical and financial considerations but when they find the house which touches their heart strings, they will often make concessions on both their list of ‘must have’ items as well as on the price point in order to purchase their dream property.

When the home evokes the right emotion, buyers fall in love and want that lifestyle for themselves.

Evoking the right emotions in your buyers is a cornerstone of the staging process.  When we stage a home, we understand who the most likely buyers are going to be, what kind of upgrades and design style they respond to best and we work it into the overall staging plan. It’s called lifestyle staging and it goes beyond de-cluttering and moving furniture around. The deeper meaning behind doing this is that this kind of staging – when done correctly – evokes a tangible emotional response from buyers who are then able to envision themselves living in the property. Our tagline is capture the heart and the mind will follow and this couldn’t be more true when it comes to staging a home for sale.

We often experience a multitude of emotions when either looking homes up online or previewing them in person.  Your buyers experience these feelings too so which emotions are your buyers feeling when they preview your property?

Sadness: These emotions are often created by dated or vacant properties as they tell a story of days gone past which buyers don’t care to revisit.  Wallpaper, dated fixtures and finishes all evoke a strong emotion in buyers but it’s not the one sellers want!

Dated or tired spaces evoke strong emotional responses in buyers – but not the ones sellers want!

Taking out those dated elements creates a space buyers will love.

Coldness or Sterility: These impressions are often created in vacant homes where there are no furnishings to distract from an endless array of rooms with no personality. Or buyers get this feeling in a home that has been de-cluttered past the point of no return so that there is no warmth or anything visually interesting in any of the rooms.  Even if it’s a luxury home with a ton of upgrades, a buyer can still feel emotionally disconnected from the home when there is nothing emotionally tangible to draw them in.

This space fails to showcase a lifestyle for buyers and the lack of warmth and appeal often makes spaces like this forgettable.

In the same space, now buyers feel the warmth and possibilities the room offers.

Disgust or worse: Yikes! Definitely want to avoid these feelings as they can make buyers simply turn around and leave. Neglect, poor cleanliness standards or worse can create these emotions so make sure your home is well maintained and presented to avoid these types of reactions.

Here are the emotions you do want to foster:

Love, joy and excitement: Nothing sells a home faster than the combination of these powerful emotions. If a buyer can see themselves living in a home, feel the warmth and welcome that has been created through careful staging and get tingly at the idea of owning this property and the life it represents .. guess what?? You just sold your house!

Every home tells a story and evokes an emotional response. We often tell our clients that they have full control over the stories they want their homes to tell and the emotions they want to foster in their buyers. So take that control when you are selling your home and work with a professional stager so buyers can see, taste, feel and imagine their new lives in your home.