Emotion
vs. Reason in Real Estate
B y Tadei Sijaona
If you are selling a home, real estate agents will usually refer to it
as a "house." If you are buying a house, agents
will often refer to it as a "home."
Why?
Because when you are buying a home, it is more than "just"
a purchase. It is where you go "home" after
a hard day on the job. It is where you raise your kids and lovingly watch
them grow. It is where you watch the football matches, barbecue in the
back yard, or plant flowers every year to admire their blooms.
You aren't buying a space to eat and sleep. You're moving into your private
"safe haven." A place you can call "home"
for years.
Someday, you will sell that house, and when you do - it becomes someone
else's home. If you're still thinking of it as your home, selling is more
difficult.
How do you let go?
It is very difficult, but necessary. To sell your home effectively, you
need to make rational decisions. You need to let go of all the little
touches you've added to the property and not be connected emotionally.
Most "home improvements" don't add as much
value as you might think -- they might not have as much appeal to a potential
buyer as they do to you.
The buyer is looking at your house and imagining it as his or her home.
You need to help them.
So take your photos off the walls. Remove the sports trophies from the
fireplace mantle. Clean the "junk" out of those
drawers in the kitchen. Remove whatever you may have accumulated in your
garage, basement or attic. If you want to keep it, put it in storage and
pick it up when you move.
Sell a house. Help someone else find a home.
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