Before I Sell Any Home, I Like to Invent the Buyer
There are plenty of ways to start pricing a house.
Pull the comparable sales. Look at what's currently on the market. Study recent activity in the neighborhood.
I do all of that.
But I also like to do something a little less scientific.
I invent the buyer.
Not literally, of course. I don't give them a Social Security number and enroll them at the YMCA.
I build a buyer avatar.
What Is a Buyer Avatar?
Before deciding how I want to position a home, I like to imagine the hypothetical buyer who would be especially excited about what this particular house offers.
This is absolutely done with Fair Housing in mind.
I'm not talking about someone's race, religion, family status, age, disability, or any other protected characteristic.
I'm talking about what the buyer values in a home.
Maybe this is someone who values a huge backyard more than an updated kitchen.
Maybe they want a garage because they're tired of scraping snow off their car.
Maybe they'll happily accept an older interior because they'd rather have more square footage.
Or perhaps this home's biggest selling point is that someone can unpack on Saturday and have people over for dinner Sunday.
That's the person I'm trying to understand.
Because "Who's Going to Love This House?" Changes the Strategy
Every house has strengths.
Every house also has things we're going to politely call character-building opportunities.
The goal isn't to make every house attractive to every buyer.
It's to understand what makes this particular house compelling and how the buyers who value those things are likely to compare it with their other options.
That affects how I think about:
Price,
Preparation,
Photography,
Staging,
Listing language and
Marketing.
Even which improvements I think are worth making before we list.
The National Association of Realtors similarly describes marketing a home as involving decisions about positioning, photography, staging, pricing and reaching potential buyers.
This Is Also One of My Favorite Parts
Building the avatar doesn't have to happen in a conference room while someone points at a PowerPoint presentation.
I'd much rather sit down with the seller over coffee or drinks and talk about the house.
What did you love about living here?
What makes this house different from the one down the street?
What would make someone choose this house instead of another one at the same price?
Eventually, a picture starts forming.
And once we understand what that hypothetical buyer values, we can start making decisions about how to present the house to the market.
The Avatar Doesn't Set the Price
This part is important.
I don't invent someone who loves the house and then decide they'll magically pay $75,000 more for it.
The market still sets the boundaries.
Comparable sales matter. Competition matters. Condition matters. Current demand matters.
The buyer avatar gives us another question to ask:
At this price, what alternatives does our buyer have, and why would they choose this house instead?
That's where I think the exercise becomes particularly useful.
Because pricing isn't just deciding what a house is worth.
It's deciding where you want the house to compete.
And before I make that decision, I like having a pretty good idea of who we're competing for.