From managing the emotions of sellers and buyers, to considering emotional perceptions of a home, psychology plays an important role throughout the real estate buying and selling process.
In particular, customer psychology is an important factor that affects the final decisions of both home buyers and sellers. Maybe the original purpose is to satisfy personal needs, but customers will only spend money to buy what they feel is the best.
Below are 4 types of real estate customer psychology that not all brokers know.
Customer psychology #1: Value emotions
For many people, buying a home is an important event in life, not only realizing the dream of settling down but also being the biggest investment ever made. The meaning of buying a house is so great that it goes beyond the boundaries of an economic transaction.
Therefore, for customers, buying a house is always associated with emotions. Never underestimate the power of emotional connection. For example, potential buyers will buy a house simply because they are impressed with the design or structure, even though it may take them an extra hour to commute to work.
Similar to home buyers, home sellers may also have a strong emotional attachment to the homes they have owned. Some people insist on only selling their home for a higher price than they bought it for in the past, despite market realities and the risk of missing out on favorable home selling opportunities.
According to an article on MarketWatch (a website that provides financial information, business news, analysis, and stock market data), homeowners tend to overestimate the value of their homes and often 5-10% higher. When the buyer does not agree to that price, the house will become inventory on the market.
Explaining this, experts say that when homeowners buy a house at the peak of the market, house prices increase at that time, and when the market shows signs of going down, house values also decrease. The psychology of customers at this time is the fear of loss, the homeowner feels that they will experience a loss much greater than the equivalent benefit they had before.
Ideally, the home price should be attractive enough to attract a number of potential buyers. This is very important, because homebuyers may begin to have doubts, mistrust, and uncertainty if there is no competition with other potential buyers.
Successful real estate brokers are aware of the psychological characteristics that buyers and sellers are susceptible to and have psychological solutions to overcome them in how to sell a house.
Customer psychology #2: The house you buy must be a home
Buyer psychology wants to visualize a house as a family home. This can make it difficult for realtors when house hunting. Realtors sometimes have to show clients that the home for sale is still in use, when potential home buyers are seeing someone else’s ideal home and trying to envision their own experience. Future.
Another situation is that the house for sale is vacant, and such houses usually do not inspire buyers. They will encounter psychological barriers, making it difficult to imagine the scenario of living there.
Staging your home for sale before potential buyers see it is essential because first impressions are so important. The “feel” of a potential home buyer can only be created through aesthetics, environment and presentation. That is the opinion of Beth Mitchell (a leader of RE/MAX Executive Realty).
The challenge here is to create a cozy look, a unique feature so that customers can feel that it is their future home. It should be noted that personal items, photos, and mementos of the previous owner in a house are things that will prevent potential buyers from envisioning what their future residence will look like.
Customer psychology #3: Other senses can influence decisions
How the house looks is important, but a buyer’s other sensory impressions can also influence the decision.
For example, a scented candle or incense may increase appeal to some buyers, but may make others wonder: are they being used to cover up something sinister? Instead, fresh air and a few delicately fragrant flowers will relieve customers’ doubts.
Some sellers use music to create a “mood” for buyers. Music, regardless of style, is not subtle enough for this situation – when a potential buyer is touring the house. The buyer may not like the music the homeowner chooses and the music will also distract the buyer, instead of focusing all attention on the house.
Customer psychology #4: Color
There are many people who are skeptical about customer psychology from a color perspective, but in fact, color is a factor that affects customer behavior in real estate. According to research by Zillow (an American real estate company), houses with light and neutral colors are rated highest by customers. In addition, there is some information below:
- – Homes with bathrooms painted in pale blue or soft periwinkle green sold for $5,440 more than expected.
- Light beige or oatmeal-colored living room walls sold for 1,926 USA more than expected.
- – Blue to light blue-gray dining rooms, sold for an average $1,926 higher on homes with white dining room walls.
- – Homes with exteriors painted in light gray and beige (called “Greige”) sold for $3,496 more than homes painted in brown or light tan
- – Homes with doors painted dark navy blue to gray brought in an additional $1,514.
According to Zillow research, home buyers’ psychology prefers houses with light and neutral colorsOn the contrary, there are also some colors that can affect customer psychology and deter buyers. Dark, feature-style walls like the terracotta dining room sold for 2,031 USA less than expected.
The lack of color can have even worse consequences. Homes with white bathrooms sold for an average of 4,035 USA less than similar homes.
Conclusion
Most home sellers and buyers rely on real estate agents for thorough guidance throughout the transaction process. And the broker himself is buying and selling a lot of houses, one could even say selling himself to potential sellers and buyers. The majority of a brokerage’s business comes from referrals and returning customers. So good communication is essential throughout this process.
To be able to communicate well, the broker himself must more or less have the skills to grasp customer psychology, know when to do what, what to say and what to avoid. No one can do this well overnight, even the millionaire brokers in the world. It is a process of exposure, attention and learning.
Buying and selling a home can be a stressful, emotional time, and real estate agents must help people navigate life’s transitions smoothly. ). Sympathy and understanding of people’s wishes will make a broker more successful in his career.
