The Home Selling Secret: Understanding Your Buyer
In the show Love It or List It, the interior designer isn't just there to make things pretty. She's actively solving problems for homeowners with the goal of seducing them to fall back in love with their homes and stay there. This could look like adding a work-from-home space, making room for a new baby, or creating more usable space for another purpose.
It’s a tough job, but she has a good track record of keeping people in their homes despite her competition’s efforts to entice them to relocate and buy another place.
But she also has it easy.
How so? She knows her clients inside and out. They've discussed in detail what would make the homework for them, and she only has to win over that one person or family.
If only you could do that for your home before you put it on the market. Surely, you'd stand out to buyers in a good way, right? It seems like a smart way to guarantee you'd fetch top dollar then, right?
Good news. You can appeal to top buyers with your home, but it requires a deep appreciation of both art and science. Simply put, you need to know who your buyer is and, just as importantly, what will make them fall in love with your home.
It gets trickier. Not only that, you need to know who the top qualified and motivated buyers are that will love a home like yours.
There is no point in putting all the effort into waiting around for someone to fall in love in principle or waiting around until they get motivated to see it. Just like there’s no point in motivating a bunch of aspirational buyers to see it who can’t afford to buy it.
Oof! If only we had a crystal ball. We don’t. We’d likely be typing this from a yacht if we did. But we do have the closest realistic path to one. We know what to consider and how to get answers.
The Love It or List It Approach: Solving Problems, Winning Hearts
Knowing what makes your home irresistible to buyers in New Orleans real estate is key. Just like the designer on Love It or List It, you need to solve the right problems and highlight the right features to win over potential buyers. But how do you know what those are?
Know Your Buyer: The Key to a Successful Sale
Selling a home in New Orleans requires more than just putting a sign in the yard. You need to understand who your potential buyers are and what they’re looking for. This means tapping into both the art and science of real estate—knowing what will make someone fall in love with your home and making sure they’re the right person who can actually buy it.
Consider This:
Who’s buying homes like yours in your neighborhood right now? Are they young or old? New to the area, or long-time residents? Families, pet owners? What matters to them? A work-from-home space? A nursery? Room to park their boat? The ability to walk to a solid cup of coffee? How close do they want to be to the mix of city life and culture? Look around. Chances are, they resemble whoever you were when you bought the house originally—just an updated model, no offense.
What do they want? They may want something different than you did once they step inside. Consider this: they likely have more money than you or can spend or borrow more than you did. How do we know? Chances are you’re selling your home for more than you bought it for—at least, that’s where most homeowner goals start when selling. While you might have been scrappier or had more vision when you bought your place, your new buyer wants things move-in ready, and they’re willing to spend a little more to have less work when they move in. Bottom line: expectations are higher. Conversely, if you live in a neighborhood where dated homes are being invested in and upgraded by new buyers with more energy or specialty in renovations, that’s important to consider, too.
Who’s motivated and qualified? This means finding out who is approved or applying to buy and who fits the bill. Did you know that mortgage approvals have an expiration date? Well, they do. It’s a decent shelf life, but it’s finite. Did you know that who is applying, where, and for what varies? It does. Those national buyer trend reports are helpful, but you aren’t selling something you can ship. You’re selling something hyper-local. Something that literally requires the buyer to ship all their belongings to! So, learning what demand looks like for your home right now requires understanding the supply of buyers available at any given time, location, and purchase power.
The Puzzle of Selling: Why It’s Not as Easy as It Seems
Well, crap. This isn't easy. It isn’t, but we’re nutty enough at Cool Murphy Real Estate to find this kind of puzzle really, really fun. And we’re good at it.
We also have it easier than you do—why? In addition to years of experience cracking this code every day, we have access to resources that aren’t accessible without a real estate license and a deep network of real estate connections.
Wow, it’s almost as if we have to be licensed to drive this job or something. We are. But beyond that, we care, and we’re passionate about coaching our clients through this process when they go to sell their home.
Why Cool Murphy Real Estate Has the Edge
We have a list of what buyers are looking for in any neighborhood and home type. We do extensive market research on active and recent buyers in your area to get here. And we have access to partners and resources who can tell us who is both motivated and qualified to buy a place like yours in, well, a place like yours.
It takes practice, experience, and lots of hours to do. But the result is a listing prep plan that keeps your focus on the things that matter to get your home ready to list and spares you from wasting valuable money, time, and energy on things that don’t matter.
It gets better. We also have all the partners needed and work with the best in town. Painter, stager, contractor, consultant—you name it, we can connect you. Even better, we’ll manage the process for you. So you don’t need to lift a paintbrush, screwdriver, or couch unless you want to. And for those of you who already live someplace else? No problem—we’re great at working with people remotely to get this all done, too.
Loving this type of information? Check out the rest of our Level Up Your Listing Series starting with Part 1, here.
Ready to Sell? Let’s Get Started on Your Custom Plan
Thinking about selling your home in New Orleans? Whether you’re planning to sell in the next year or the next few months, Cool Murphy Real Estate is here to help. Our consultations are always free, and we’ll guide you through every step of the process—from identifying your ideal buyer to preparing your home for a successful sale. Book your free consultation here and discover how we can help you achieve top dollar for your home.
When should you reach out? Are you flirting with the idea of selling in the next 12 months? Fabulous. Let’s chat soon so you can save time, money, and energy by avoiding the things and projects that don’t matter.
Are you serious about selling your home in the next 3-6 months? Awesome. Let’s talk now to agree to work together and get started on your custom go-to-market plan!
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Voted Neighborhood Favorite by Nextdoor, Team Cool Murphy is a top-producing, licensed real estate team based in New Orleans, brokered by Cool Murphy, LLC.
Celebrated for her next-level creative approach to real estate, Elisa Cool Murphy is an award-winning, top-performing real estate broker in New Orleans and the founder of Cool Murphy Real Estate.
Contact Her -
email: cool@coolmurphy.com
Facebook: @homeinneworleans
IG: @coolmurphynola
YouTube: @coolmurphynola
phone: 504-321-3194
