The Great British Bake Off is back! Although I have watched bits of the series before, I have never watched a series from start to finish so this year I thought I would give it a try. Already, after just two episodes, we are beginning to get a feel for the contestants and there have been triumphs and disasters. Even at this early stage the standard is incredibly high especially with the Showstopper Challenge. As ever, Mel and Sue offer words of encouragement and a shoulder to cry on and Paul and Mary give their assessments of the contestants’ offerings.
There are obviously certain elements to a successful bake and these apply whether we are baking at home or for the contestants on the Bake Off. When judging, Paul and Mary are looking for the right ingredients combined in the right proportions, the bake needs to be cooked to just the right stage and the final ingredient – presentation. Particularly with the Showstopper Challenge, it isn’t enough to have the right ingredients cooked to perfection, the correct texture, right shape and size – the finished result has to be beautifully presented. We certainly saw that with the biscuit boxes created for Episode Two they were amazing!
It struck me that these principles can be applied to selling our homes.
Your house needs to have the right ingredients. Your target market will have a list of “must haves” – the number of bedrooms, outside space, parking, kitchen/ diner etc. When selling you need to consider your target market and their requirements. If something is missing can it be created? For example, if it’s bedrooms and you are currently using one as a study change it back to a bedroom, if it’s parking can you sacrifice a little bit of garden to provide it? Perhaps your property needs DIY jobs finishing or a fresh coat of paint. Buying a property inevitably involves making a compromise (unless you are very lucky) but minimising the number of compromises that buyers have to make improves your chances of a sale.
The ingredients need to cooked be correctly. When selling your home the various aspects need to assembled correctly. Does your property have the necessary flow, Does it have a unifying theme that continues throughout the property or is each room a mass of differing colours and styles. Choosing a colour scheme that continues in every room or flooring that continues from one room to another creates a feel of ease as buyers walk round.
Presentation – the Show Stopper Challenge. When applied to selling your home let’s call this the Wow Factor. So often buyers will talk about “feel” or say they are looking for the Wow Factor. This means that apart from the right ingredients combined correctly your home needs to have that something extra. So you’ve got the basics right, your home is clean and tidy, it has the right combination of rooms and it has flow so think about those little finishing touches. This is lifestyle touches such as cushions, throws, flowers, accessories, candles – all those factors that turn a house into a home and get buyers imagining themselves moved in.
So if you are looking to create the home with the Showstopper feel contact us to find out how we can help. E Mail us at info@homestyle4u.com, call us on 07745 876182 or complete the Enquiry Form below. We cover Cheshire and the North West [contact-form][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Website’ type=’url’/][contact-field label=’Comment’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][/contact-form]
