A NATIONWIDE survey has revealed that when buying and selling a home ‘love at first sight’ is not to be underestimated, with first impressions heavily impacting the emotions of a potential buyer.
Conducted by market researcher Opinium and home staging firm Lemon & Lime Interiors, the survey of 2000 people up and down the country asked that (if a home is within your price range) how important is experiencing ‘love at first sight’ when deciding which home to buy?
The results split opinions across the different regions. People from the West Midlands were most likely to believe in love at first sight, with 57% deeming it to be very important or somewhat important, followed by Wales with 53%. Northern Ireland was the lowest at 37%, followed by Scotland with 40%.
35-54-year-olds are the age group most likely to find it an important factor when buying, with 47% reporting to be somewhat or very important, greater than the 55+ category at 45% and 18-34-year-olds at 43%. Up to 70% of those surveyed said ‘love at first sight’ was fairly important and only 5% said it was not important at all.
Currently, only 1% of homes are staged for sale in the UK, but potential selling power could increase significantly by around 45x if agents and homeowners were to consider appearance first and foremost when selling. This is evidenced by the overall national average of around 45% of decision-making being mostly or partially based on ‘love at first sight’.
In fact, around 71.2% of the homeowners in England are coupled up, and people who are buying or selling a home in the next 12 months are 42% more likely to celebrate Valentine’s Day than the population as a whole – that’s a third of all movers or an estimated 831,000 people.
Elaine Penhaul, founder and director at Lemon and Lime Interiors, said: “For many house buyers, love at first sight can be a determining factor to taking the plunge.
“Most people are likely to have a home tug at their heartstrings whether a home has period features bursting with character or offers the space to cater for a family. We were fascinated by the variety of the data across the UK population this Valentine’s Day.
“Effectively, home staging is the process of highlighting your property’s most valuable assets ensuring a strong first impression and striking a chord with a buyer – this is usually through evoking an emotional connection or helping them to envisage a lifestyle in a potential home.
“With people expecting to buy a home only around three times in their life, it is imperative that agents and owners consider appeal as a principal factor in the buying process. There is so much untapped potential to help sell a home both faster and for more money and staging is a worthwhile option to enhance your kerb appeal.”
For more information about how to help people fall in love with the home you want to sell, visit the Lemon and Lime Interiors website.
