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Six Simple Tips to Make Your Model Sell
By Lita Dirks, MIRM, Lita Dirks & Co., LLC
Anyone who has spent even a small amount of time in a model home while prospective home buyers were strolling through has probably overheard them gasp, “I want my home to look just like this.”
These are happy words for builders, the beginning of prospects envisioning actually living in that particular home.
But what makes prospective home buyers think and react that way? Is it the pillow arrangement on the couch, or the warm, pumpkin spice latte paint color in the kitchen?
Actually, it’s much more than that. It’s a professional understanding of your buyers’ wants and needs by your interior merchandiser.
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Positioning furniture in a model means not only promoting good traffic flow, but also “inspiring functionality of the space,” says Lita Dirks, MIRM, of Lita Dirks & Co. LLC. |
To keep those gasps coming, follow these six simple tips to keep your model presentation focused and your prospective home buyers interested:
Thoughtful Space Planning
First, analyze your floor plan. Walk through the plan as if you were the potential buyer, and then determine each room’s functionality.
Once you’ve done that, plan the furniture placement in each room. This part of the process can become a true team effort involving the builder, architect and interior merchandiser. And it could save you from costly production changes.
With all of the team involved early, you can determine whether or not a floor plan layout makes sense for your particular target market — for instance, does the fireplace location leave enough room in the family room for the media center?
When planning space this way with everyone involved in the process, you can make timely, appropriate adjustments, possibly even before the final set of construction documents is issued.
When furnishing a room, you also should consider how buyers will live in that room when positioning the furniture — not just for traffic flow, but also to inspire space functionality.
Finally, keep in mind that the prospective buyers will walk through your models with their two children, Realtor® and mother-in-law. Each room not only needs to function as a model, it has to work as a selling tool.
Deliberate Details
Every home needs personality, but more importantly, the right personality to match the target market. This is accomplished through the creation of deliberate details.
Whether simply-built or radically unique, these deliberate details are an opportunity to emphasize drama, or to create diversion from a builder’s area of concern. They emphasize spaces, define niches, create corners and cause someone to stop and look.
Whatever details you want to incorporate, design your idea for the dream, then modify it with easily accessed materials. Incorporate the entire wall space, from the floor to the ceiling and wall, to wall to create a positive impact when planning and creating the details.
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Thoughtfully planned color can enhance built-in details like shelving and ceiling trim. | Relevant Furnishings
Does the room have volume? Will a bold armoire or a soaring art niche be appropriate? Or, are the room's furnishings restricted by an 8-foot ceiling?
When selecting furnishings, understand the room’s true size and then choose correctly-scaled furniture.
If the room has volume, furniture generally can be heavier or taller. If the room has a lower ceiling, match the size of the room to the furniture. This doesn’t mean that you have to undersize the furniture. It means using furniture wisely. Coffee tables with glass tops may work in a smaller room, or open-leg dining room tables with fewer chairs.
In addition to correctly-scaled furnishings, you should select furnishings that send a clear message to the potential home buyer that they can now afford, or will soon be able to afford, what they see. Just make sure that the furnishings are within the grasp of your target market, whatever that market may be.
The furnishings you present also must be consistent with the overall theme of the home.
Taken together, you want to provide a seamless and enjoyable experience for the prospective home buyer. If there is a gap in any part of this experience — and that can be something as simple as a piece of furniture or accessory that appears out of place — you could ruin the model experience, giving your prospects a reason not to buy.
Finally, make sure the furniture is comfortable. You want prospective buyers to stay longer and experience the model. I remember walking into the kitchen of a model during its opening. Several prospects were gathered, quite relaxed and talking among themselves. It was almost as if I was in a private residence. One of the people at the kitchen counter even said to me, “Come on in,” as if he were in his own kitchen. Now, that’s comfortable.
Timeless Trend
“Timeless trend” relates to consistent styling and the concept of incorporating “new,” but not “too new,” elements into your home. If something is too trendy, most people tend to shy away from it.
Timeless trend evokes a sense of safety — being on the edge, yes, but not over the edge. Prospective buyers can relate to a home incorporating timeless trend. They see that the home features the latest and greatest, as well as the attainable.
By furnishing your home with timeless trend as your guideline, you will be able appeal to your targeted audience quite possibly for several years.
Calculated Color Use
Color is a great way to change the look of a room, but the carefully planned use of color is what can set the tone or mood of the entire home and the prospective home buyer’s experience.
The use of color can be tricky, however. What’s hot comes and goes quickly. So choose colors that have a two- or three-year life span when used in model merchandising.
When selecting color and where it will be used, also consider the lifestyle you are intending to craft.
Use color for details, such as a cove ceiling, a cozy corner or a series of uniquely positioned windows. Contrasting or complementing colors can be used to accent cabinets or tile, as well.
Most people like and want to feel good. The appropriate use of color is just what’s needed to foster that feeling.
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Pull drapery clear of windows to allow for maximum light to enter the room. |
Controlled Lighting
Illuminate the opportunity and make your models twinkle with controlled and carefully thought-out lighting.
Maximize window glass exposure with your furniture placement by keeping windows clear or partially clear of furniture, especially bulky pieces.
Keep your drapery pulled clear of the glass to maximum the light streaming into the home and to take advantage of views.
When needed, add additional lighting, possibly recessed, to help balance the light disbursement throughout a room throughout the year. Balanced lighting will help buyers see better, and more, when they walk through your models in the early evening on an autumn day.
Ultimately, maximize lighting to create ambiance. Decorative and directional lighting can pack a punch. Use decorative lighting to highlight a special piece of art in the master suite or to set the mood by focusing on the grand piano in the entertainment room.
Incorporate All Six Tips
You probably have incorporated a number of these simple tips when merchandising your models. But, by incorporating all of them each time you decorate your models, you are creating a better opportunity to put prospective buyers from your targeted audience right where you want them — in your models whispering, “I want my home to look just like this.”
Lita Dirks, MIRM, of Denver-based Lita Dirks & Co., LLC, is a nationally recognized leader in model home merchandising. Since 1974, Dirks has worked with most of the nation’s residential and commercial home builders and developers, helping them to achieve their sales goals.
This story originally appeared in the January/February 2006 issue of “Sales + Marketing Ideas” magazine.
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 Strenghten Your Selling Game
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