Home Owner Tips, Real Estate Marketing Ideas, Guest Posts

How to Make Buyers Go “WOW!” at Your Property

By Meaghan Loraas Last Updated April 22, 2022 3 min read

Guest Post by the experts at Houzeo

To secure top dollar for your home, ideally, it should have the “wow” factor. Buyers should be touring your home and left amazed for all the right reasons.

The Basic Principles of Having a Wow Factor Property: Pricing

Even if you’re selling a home as-is, you can still secure the “wow” factor through some creative marketing and a strategic approach.

Think for a minute: what are some of the most creative ways to market a house?

Facebook ads, Youtube ads, even ads on the radio are all creative ways to market a house. But these cost money up-front. A more effective way to advertise your home exists that doesn’t require you to pay any money now but will get you more buyer interest than all these ads combined. The answer? Pricing.

Of course, multi-million dollar mansions will produce audible amazement, but for the average home, a different strategy is necessary to get buyers to gasp. To secure the wow factor, even if you’re selling a house as is, aim to be the best home in that price range. 

Buyers who are looking for homes in a similar price range to yours will be amazed at the fact that a property like yours is available within that price range and, naturally, will fight to get their hands on it.

Reconsider the Listing Price

To be the best in your price range doesn’t mean you need to list your $320,000 home for $100,000, as that would draw suspicion rather than amazement. Instead, you could consider knocking off between $5,000 and $10,000 of the home’s current value, which will be enough to produce a noticeable marvel.

Research Other Homes on the Market

You could also do some research before listing your home. On websites like Zillow, filter homes according to their price range, entering the price you would consider listing your home. See what these homes, which should be in your neighborhood, look like. 

If, objectively, your home falls on the lower end of the aesthetic appeal and has fewer amenities, consider dropping the price slightly. Don’t be afraid of shaving off $5,000, as you can easily recoup these price drops by listing your home on a flat fee service like Houzeo or Beycome rather than a real estate agent.

Two Cheap and Creative Ways to Market a House

Beyond changing the pricing on your home, you have two other low-cost options available to you to get unbelievable buyer interest in your home.

Use Buyer Rebates in Conjunction with Online Ads

If you consider listing with Houzeo or Beycome, buyers automatically become eligible for buyer rebates. This means that whatever would have gone to the buyer’s agent will go to the buyer after closing. The only caveat is that buyers will need to buy without a buyer’s agent. It’s here where you’ll need to spend about $50 to $100. 

After your listing goes live on either Houzeo or Beycome, use the images and brief description to create an ad on Facebook. The image accompanying your Facebook ad should be the best one of your property, either the facade or the living spaces. Alongside this image should be the title: “Get Back When You Buy this Home.” 

You know what the amount will be as you’ve already determined how much the buyer agent will receive.

The objective of this ad should be to drive traffic to your Houzeo or Beycome listing.

Change the Light Bulbs

Another trick you can consider implementing before you list your property is to change the light bulbs in your home. A soft daylight bulb will do far better on photographs than warm light bulbs, so switch out any bulbs in your home with a 2000K or 3500K color temperature to one between 3500K and 5100K which produces a daylight feel. You’ll be amazed at how just changing the light bulb can make the space feel bigger and more welcoming.

How do light bulbs help me market my home? 

Well, lighting is essential to property photos, and the lighter your pictures have in them, the more inviting your listing will be to buyers.

Of course, you don’t have to stop at replacing bulbs. You can make a few cost-effective changes before having your For Sale By Owner property listed and professionally photographed. Rearranging furniture, decluttering, and color coordinating individual rooms can also make the space more inviting to would-be buyers.

You can still have success selling a house as-is if you’re strategic about pricing and enlisting some creative ways to market a house that make it more appealing to buyers. Remember, whether you’re selling a megamansion or a 1960s original, these ideas will increase buyer interest in the home, which is imperative if you dream about selling above asking.