Bryan Vogt: Welcome back, everyone, this is Bryan Vogt, your host of “Ready, Set, Sold” and with me, we have Kelly Etheridge. She is a rock star on our team. Kelly, how are you doing?
Kelly Etheridge: Hey, everybody. I’m great, I’m great. How you doing?
Bryan Vogt: I’m doing great. I just want to make sure you’re still there with us. I know you started with us, want to make sure you’re still there.
Kelly Etheridge: Yep.
Bryan Vogt: I’m doing fantastic, thanks for asking. Basically, what we’re going to be talking about this segment is lighting. Lighting is so crucial. I can’t emphasize enough, how much lighting is … When you’re going to sell your house and making sure that you have the lighting on and also making sure that you have as much natural light as possible.
I think the best illustration I can have, when we talk about staging, is the fact that think if you were having a dinner party. What would that look like? Would you make sure that every light that was possible was on?Maybe in your dining room cabinets, maybe above lighting in your kitchen, below lighting?
You would really want your house to be standing out in every room, every way, in every situation. That’s what you’re really looking for when you’re putting your house on the market. You’re inviting guests over for a dinner party for giving them a chance to look at your house, fall in love with your house, and put an offer in.
When you have that lighting on, it makes a huge difference. Kelly, I know that’s a big factor to you. I’ve heard you talk about it so many times, that walking into a house that has no lights versus a house that has lighting, and natural lighting in particular.
Kelly Etheridge: I have the perfect story. I had a home that my buyers were interested in it. We went to go look at it and when we got there, every shade was pulled down, every light was off, it was like walking into a dark cave.
I quickly tried to turn on everything and open all the shades, but it was too late. The first impression had already happened. This home is dark. It’s dingy. It’s cave-like. It’s not going to work.
We looked at several homes. I said, “Let’s give this home one more try. It really is a nice home.” I called the agent up ahead. I said, “Hey, make sure your sellers have turned on every light and pulled the shades up. Make sure that this house is … All the lights are on.”
When we got there, thank goodness she listened. It showed so much better and the buyers even said, “It feels so much bigger. It’s so bright. I didn’t notice this before.” They gave it a chance this time, where before, it was an instant, shut down “no”.
Bryan Vogt: I loved what you said there, too, Kelly, because one of the things that we stress is lighting is so important. We have that standard, but I can tell you that most agents don’t and they go with what most buyers say, and that is, “Next.”
It was great that you came in, and made that phone call, and said, “Hey, let’s take a second look,” but I can tell you that, good or bad, in our market area, most agents wouldn’t do that. They would just move on to the next house. The buyers would move on, so they wouldn’t have that second opportunity.
It’s great that you did it. It’s one of our standards that we have for our team, but that’s not normal and that’s important to recognize. Not only is it difficult, it just breaks the mood, because, again, you’re trying to figure out where the light are.
Most agents haven’t seen this house, either, right? So now you’re trying to figure out what light goes with what and it just doesn’t have the same flow, does it?
Kelly Etheridge: No. No, because you’re so busy trying to figure out which switch to flip, and this switch, and this button. Yeah, you can’t point out the granite countertops, the fixtures. You’re too busy trying to figure out how to get the lights on.
Bryan Vogt: Right, right. Like I said, that’s … I know we’re laughing a little bit, but I don’t think sellers sometimes understand that, that we really don’t know where your lights are at. We’re fumbling around and it just doesn’t have that flow. It doesn’t have that same energy when they can look at it right away.
One of the things that’s a great idea is first impressions. You don’t get a second chance for a first impression. In real estate, that’s huge.
You mentioned the natural light, too, and how important that is, is not having shades pulled down. One tip that we recommend to our sellers is, “Look, when you know you’re having a showing, go ahead and put the lights on,” and let them leave them on.
Again, this creates another problem. If you have to turn everything off as you are leaving you lose that impression that you had when you came in. The last look we want is the same look we want when the buyers first walk in your house. That’s the lighting and the natural lighting.
Many times, and Kelly, you know this, too, when they have interest in it and they’re turning back, and many times they do, to take one more look, want to make sure it looks the same way when we came in as when we’re leaving. That way, leaving the lights on as you take off is a great idea. Don’t you agree?
Kelly Etheridge: Yes, absolutely.
Bryan Vogt: So like you said … And lighting is so simple, for the most part. You can put on timers if you need to. Sellers have done that. There’s just so many easy ways and it’s such a big thing to make sure that you have.
So we always want to make that we have that lighting in good working order. Again, talk to your agent if you have questions, or concerns, or whatever. That’s always a good thing, too. Rely on your agent as a valuable partner, too.
With that said, we’re going to be moving on to our next segment and that’s the two illusions that you must, and I do mean must, give to buyers when it comes to selling your house.
You’re listening to “Ready, Set, Sold” with your host, Bryan Vogt and my team member Kelly Etheridge.
Ready Set Sold with Bryan Vogt #18-03: Kelly Etheridge: Why lighting makes such a difference on how your house shows
September 23, 2017