Which Brokerage Should My Daughter Use to Sell Her House
My daughter is concerned. She has worked hard updating her doll house, but she thinks that the cost may be too much for her. She is interviewing Realtors now to see what sign will be sitting in front of her precious home. Since her vocabulary is limited, she forcefully says down when asking them to sit. Her first question could be philosophical (where are you?), but it has more to do with her desire to play hide and seek. This has not deterred her though from wanting that perfect branded sign in front of her home.
Marketing is a fascinating way to lie. We study human reactions to certain events, and then we look at how we can manipulate their reactions to suit the outcome we wish. You see a label made with real juice, so you think that must be better (healthier) than the product that does not have such a claim. If you read the ingredients list, you discover that the juice only contains 10% real fruit juice. You are then on the hunt for that juice that has a higher percentage of real fruit as an ingredient.
We have become good at discerning such statements, so now marketers are looking to create brand loyalty (hence the importance of the sign in front of my daughter’s doll house). It turns out that building a brand among children is an effective way to obtain a customer for life. Whether we realize it or not, we have been monetized by firms. They look at our value to the company over the course of a lifetime. For example, you are worth about $4500 to a movie theater chain, because that is the average amount of money that a person will spend at a concession stand over their life time. To build brand loyalty, marketers are targeting cheerleaders. High School Cheerleaders are at the top of a popularity chain, which will dictate what is “in” and “out”. If the cheerleader becomes loyal to one brand, she will bring many others to that product.
However, we cannot always wait for the loyalty to be built into a child’s consciousness, so we revert to playing on fears. During the course of this week, three people have told me that a certain product will increase the value of my home (if I am selling it). Today my wife and I were buying some custom shutters for a room in our home. We were looking for quality, so we were willing to pay more. As we are leaving after having made our purchase, the salesman states that these shutters will cause our home to sell for a greater price. I started grinning. Later my wife asked why. Do you think that one set of shutters will cause a home’s price to go up? It is a selling point. This hits upon a question that I posed in my last post. I was wondering if a tankless water heater really would add value. Maybe I am attuned to this sales tactic, since I know that such items do not cause a home to sell for more.
With home sales going down for the past two months, sellers are becoming worried. They could be repairing their home, just as some clients that I am assisting. To pray on this concern, sales people are attempting to strike a nerve to help convince them that spending more is good for them.
To that end, could I recommend a home inspection? It is a great way to increase the value of your home in these dire times. Well, it will help you sell the home more easily if you have issues from an inspection report addressed, but I am sorry, it will not raise your asking price.
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