Its Nothing Personal – Just Business

As luxury property dealers in Mumbai and having sold many luxury and high end properties in Mumbai over the last few years, we wanted to write a few articles about what we have learnt from our own experience in the high stakes business of selling luxury homes. From our experience we have seen that there are 2 types of home sellers – ones who have been trying to sell their home for the longest time with no success. These sellers typically have homes priced on the upper end of the market with prices anywhere between ₹ 15 Cr. to ₹ 50 Cr. Their homes have been languishing on the market for years and every serious real estate broker and buyer / investor knows about this particular property and also knows that this property might never sell! On the other hand there are properties priced even higher than the above mentioned figures which sell in a jiffy! So what is the secret sauce here? If you are in the first category stuck with a home that is just not able to find the right buyer let me assure you first of all that there is no secret sauce, magic or any auspicious alignment of the stars that the second category of the sellers are using.

The only thing that successful sellers of luxury homes are employing is BUSINESS STRATEGY. These sellers know that if they have to sell a multi-million dollar home they have to embrace an attitude that is similar to launching a business venture. Now read the next line very carefully –

Successful sellers attach very little (almost zero) emotion to the selling experience.

These sellers have learnt to detach their personal feelings about their homes from the transaction itself. What differentiates these sellers from other sellers who fail to sell their homes is the fact that they have mentally prepared themselves for a no-nonsense business exchange.

Selling luxury homes

Change Your Lifestyle

This is easier said than done right? But if you want to sell your property soon and put your own home on the market, you will have to accept that your lifestyle needs to change. You have literally become a visitor in your own home and you will thus have you undergo a shift in your mindset. Even though you may have been living in your home for many years or even decades, that home must now be presented so as to make others feel comfortable when they come to visit. Buyers must be made to feel so comfortable and at ease when they come visiting that they must instantly feel at home and decide to buy it. This means that clothes must be picked up and hidden away, beds made, countertops cleaned up and all clutter dispensed with. You are preparing for company at a short notice but it is not your relatives or friends who will be dropping by but people you don’t know. But yet you must put your best face for them.

You never know when this company can arrive. You don’t know how particular they are about tiny things. You don’t know whether they will spend only five minutes or spend an hour inspecting your house. This “not knowing” can cause a lot of stress. Other family members who are not prepared for this disruption of lifestyle may feel frustrated or may hamper your efforts. All this can and is known to happen.

Preparing for Rejection

This is an all-too-common scenario. I see that most sellers look at their home through their hearts and not objectively through their eyes. Their thoughts and viewpoint is generally this: “This is my house. Me and my family have lived in this house for over twenty years. This is the best house in the entire neighbourhood with the best view. Anyone can see that! I know that when any buyer walks through the door they will feel exactly the same way that I do and want to own this wonderful house.”

Pretty soon the shocking truth comes up. Everyone does not like the house. Let me make something clear at this point. Every prospective buyer who comes walking through the doors of your house is unlike you seeing your house through their eyes and ears and not their hearts. Which is why sellers must be able to deal with feelings of rejection which we admit can sting. Most people hate to be rejected whether for love, a job or any other thing for that matter.

How To Sell Homes Quickly

Facing the Truth

Successful home sellers who form the minority of property owners who are quickly able to sell their homes and suddenly see crores of rupees in their bank accounts approach the selling process like a thorough professional and know the truth – Not everyone will like your house. They know that your house will simply not appeal to every person who sees it for any number of reasons. Those reasons you will never know or shouldn’t really care about.

Successful home sellers know that the key to sell an apartment or even a mansion quickly is to have faith. Someone out there is looking out for a house exactly like yours and wants, needs and loves the beautiful house you are offering. Your job as a seller is to concentrate on that factor. Its your duty to keep the premises of your house in tip-top condition. Its also your duty to remember that while you may have an emotional connection to your property your prospects have no such connection. Finally it all boils down to whether you are successfully able to keep your mind and attitude clear of all the tricky emotions that can hamper the sale process of your house.

Take a cue from successful sellers who have managed to quickly sell their homes for a profit and try to change your mindset and keep your emotions in check. If you want to successfully sell your house you must view the sale only as a business transaction and nothing else.

Action Steps
Try this exercise. Take your mind back to a time when you felt rejected. How did you handle that? Now tell yourself with full conviction – You as a person were not rejected but only your idea or proposition was rejected.

Take your emotional connections to your house and bury it in your cupboard! Tell yourself that under no circumstances will you feel rejected when people see your house and then do not make an offer. Learn to adopt the secret word that the successful home seller says: NEXT!

Real Estate Agent at Gupta & Sen
Chloe is a real estate advisor with Gupta & Sen. With a combined experience of over 15 years in varied industries, she is a vocal and knowledgeable ally for buyers and investors who want to make informed choices when buying a property in India. With superlative communication and marketing skills, Chloe handles our PR, real estate marketing strategy and client management.
Chloe Dodd