How To Make Buyers Drool Over A House’s Worst Feature

I had one of my best agents come to me a couple years ago and she said, "Jim, I got a listing that's priced right. And we're getting showings. But we're not selling the property."

And I said okay, let's go take a look at it. So I made an appointment with her and we went up and looked at the property. And immediately when I pulled up, I knew what the problem was. The property had a steep driveway. And I told her I bet a lot of people were commenting on the driveway. And she said, "Yes, true. We're getting a lot of negative comments on the driveway. And I think that's really the biggest reason why people aren't, you know, looking at the house. Or looking at the house, but then rejecting it."

So we went in and explained to the sellers that they can have the best price property in the world. And actually, have the best house in the world, but that driveway could be the stumbling block for getting it sold.

So I'm gonna give you a suggestion, which may sound kind of out there, but I want you to be open to it. And they said, sure. I said, I've got some experience with this and I can just tell you, it's worked for so many of my other sellers.

And that is that we take this sting out of this driveway by just telling people right out of the gate, that you have a steep driveway, because you can't change it. Right? There's no changing this driveway. The price was right on target. It was obviously not a price issue. It was a driveway issue. So I said, let's do this. Let's just put it right out in front of the marketing and let everybody know out front. So when they come, they know there's a steep driveway.

Now they're gonna talk themselves into it when they get there. Instead of talking themselves immediately out of it.

Instead of them being shocked when they get to the house, they're gonna know it's already there. And now they're gonna talk themselves into why they can deal with the driveway.

So our marketing changed and we completely embraced it. In the lead off with that was:

"You don't get a view like this without some elevation, so please be aware of the driveway."

You don't get a view like this without some elevation, so please be aware of the driveway. Taking the sting out, letting them know that they're dealing with the driveway. If you're coming out to look at this, just know there's a driveway you're gonna deal with.

And we can apply this to other houses that you may have listed that may have a little bit of a sting we need to deal with. Some negative attribute that we need to just address right out of the gate.

By the way, that house sold in two weeks after making the change.

You might say something like this, "Hey, you won't like the color of the kitchen, but you'll love the floor plan." Just put it out there. The seller's not wanting to paint the kitchen and you know, there's a terrible color there. Deal with it. Get out in front of it.

Another one is, "Hey, some people are looking for peace and quiet, but why settle for seclusion when you can be close to everything?" So I'm dealing with a house that's right on the freeway. We're dealing with a house that's got a lot of noise around it. I'm just gonna put it out there.

Now, I'm not saying it in a super negative way. I'm putting a little bit of a spin on it, but I'm pretty much letting people know what to expect. Right?

So think about this with your marketing. You have some negative attribute, talk about it with your seller, be open and honest with the market, and watch what happens when you tell people in advance what to expect when they get to that house. I'm gonna tell you it works like magic.

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