Using a Focus Group to Earn a Quick Sale

Published by julia | Filed under Buyer / Seller Tips, Market Trends, Miscellaneous, Pinellas County Homes, Real Estate

Everyone believes their home will be just as beautiful to the people walking through for a sale as it is to them. This is never the case. A homeowner tailors their personal space to their likes and not to the feelings of the masses. When trying to sell your home, a focus group of strangers and local real estate agents can be a Godsend for a quick sale.

A focus group is a group of people who take a survey or try a product out for free in order to give feedback to the creator or manufacturer of the product. While big business is usually who takes advantage of the focus group, a homeowner can tap into the group in order to get an honest feel of how the home will show on the market.

The focus group can be gathered from friends, family members, acquaintences and local real estate agents. If you do not want to pay the agents to walk through your home, simply as them to walk the home as a favor before you list the property for sale.

Before the focus group walks through the home, it is important to hand out a list of instructions regarding the information they pass on about the home. These instructions should tell the group to HONESTLY rate the home on the various topics listed on your questionnaire. These topics can include cleanliness, size, number of bedrooms, paint colors and room flow, among others. There should also be a section where the focus group can write comments about the property.

Once the group has completed their tour, the homeowner will need to read over the comments with an open mind. These people represent the same people who will be walking the home during the open house. They will feel the same way as the focus group and thus the changes noted are important to the quick sale of the home.

The easiest changes to make are to room color and clutter. Nearly all furniture should be removed from the home before the open house is set. This will give the potential buyer the ability to visualize their furniture in the home as opposed to feeling shut in by your furniture.

Another huge plus is to place the furniture on casters throughout the home. These castors will allow the potential buyers to move around the furniture to “see” the room from different angles. On each piece of furniture, leave a note that states, “Move me into YOUR perfect spot!”