Do you have the proper “accessories” to excel in real estate? Do brands matter to increase your sales? Will your clothes help you “close” the real estate sale? I’m talking about your actual real estate that is! Is your commercial or residential real estate “dressed” appropriately to enable a lease or sale?
There is a psychological study that backs up the theory that: “ The clothes you wear and the way you groom yourself will change the way other people hear what you say. It will subconsciously tell them if you’re like them or if you’re different. It will determine whether they listen or ignore. Trust or distrust.” (see full article). The same holds true for both residential and commercial real estate. Without property “dressing” the message is lost and the prospective buyer or renter no longer “trusts”.
People have a perception when they walk into a property that it should be “dressed” a certain way. There should be certain appliances, countertops, floors, bathroom fixtures, etc.. To sell a property these items should be of a certain tier (or above a tier) to enable a quick sale at the highest price.
For example, if you walk into a million dollar property and see kitchen aide appliances a prospective buyer would likely walk right out the door. In a million-dollar property, one would expect Wolf / Sub-Zero, Thermador, or Viking appliances.
I recently had this experience. I was inspecting a 1.5-million-dollar ski property in Colorado. I walked in and saw kitchen aide appliances on a house that was supposedly “fully remodeled”. This was a huge red flag and had me questioning the entire remodel. If the borrower took a shortcut on items that prospective buyers see/value, I can only imagine the shortcuts that are out of site. For example, did they properly upgrade wiring or is there duck tape in the light fixtures instead of wire nuts?
Whether they did everything right or wrong on the remodel is almost immaterial since just as in dressing it is perception over reality.
As we all know more often than not, both residential and commercial real estate is an emotional process. In the vast majority of cases emotion is the number one factor in a real estate decision. You must embrace the emotional side of the transaction. When you are remodeling/updating a property ensure you are “dressing” the house properly for the audience to elicit the correct emotional response. When you choose your clothes for a “fancy” restaurant” you likely don’t wear paint covered jeans (if you do you likely will get crappy service if any at all). You would wear “nicer” clothes. The same is true for real estate. The “accessories” must match the price point that you are targeting.
Resources
https://www.riskology.co/dress-well/
Written by Glen Weinberg, COO/ VP Fairview Commercial Lending. Glen has been published as an expert in hard money lending, real estate valuation, financing, and various other real estate topics in the Colorado Real Estate Journal, the CO Biz Magazine, The Denver Post, The Scotsman mortgage broker guide, Mortgage Professional America and various other national publications.
Fairview is a hard money lender specializing in private money loans / non-bank real estate loans in Georgia, Colorado, Illinois, and Florida. They are recognized in the industry as the leader in hard money lending with no upfront fees or any other games. Learn more about Hard Money Lending through our free Hard Money Guide. To get started on a loan all they need is their simple one page application (no upfront fees or other games).