The Impulse Buying Factor - I Spent $52,750 on 8 Rolls of Wallpaper!

After reading this post you are going to wonder how I ever became an Interior Designer but I did. They say that people become what they need in this life and I am no exception!

• It didn't matter to me that there wasn't a back door leading to the back yard.
• It didn't matter that the carpet was orange.
• It didn't matter to me that there were 40 windows I had to put window coverings on. The cost of those window treatments never entered my mind.
• It didn't matter that the house didn't have air conditioning. I was told it wasn't needed except for maybe 10 days a year.
• It didn't bother me that the master bedroom was on the top floor right off the kitchen and living room.
  
• It was irrelevant that the guest bath was also the master bath.
• So what if there was nothing but dirt in the front and back yards, nor a sprinkler system. No problem! I didn't care because that can be added later.
• I could care less that the kitchen was actually the size of a small apartment. It was made of beautiful dark rich wood and butcher block counter tops and I didn't need a huge kitchen.
  
• I didn't even notice the lack of lighting in every room because it was a brand new vacant home and I never went there at night
• So what if I had to stand in one place out of 3200 square feet to see my view of downtown Denver, it had a view of the mountains.
  
• So what if it was the highest priced home in the neighborhood.
• Who cares if the house is at the top of a hill in snow country...there were other people living up there and they could do it...they managed to drive up the hill in the snow!
• So what if I couldn't afford that house, the bank said I could.

Nothing mattered to me except how I felt when I opened the front door. Inside that front door was this absolutely drop dead fabulous oriental wallpaper that made me feel rich, rich, rich! And then there were the 5 steps going up, 5 steps going down and the landing floor had 2 bedrooms and a bath for the kids. I couldn't let go of the way I felt when I walked in that front door and it was a feeling I could buy, own, and enjoy every day. My dreams could go from fantasy to reality and I had to make that happen...and I did, against all odds. I was 23 and didn't know any different.

People will buy houses for the strangest reasons. Who better to study the buying habits of people than using our own barometer, by looking into our own buying habits, right?

Another home I bought was in very close proximity to my favorite hang out (bar/restaurant) and the price was right. Location as a single person was another factor. Seems whatever makes my heart beat faster than normal is all I need to KNOW that this is it! This is what I need and this is what I want. The rest will work itself out.

Busy working couples need a space to unwind. Is it going to be a spa tub that makes the bells go off in their head or is it the gazebo in the backyard for entertaining their boss and friends. Could it be a 4 car garage to accommodate the boat that has been sitting out in the elements for 2 years? Could it be a private sunroom where your spirits get lifted from life's burdens while looking out into the garden? One never really knows for sure what is going to trigger the adrenaline in a person(s) until it happens.

How disappointing it must be for buyer's to have to try to find what they are looking for through tall weeds, laundry baskets, ugly appliances or dirty carpets, dark rooms and smelly closets. Where's the dream? Buyers ability to act on their impulses should be the goal of every home seller.

Knowing your market and staging a desired lifestyle = opens the door for impulse buying.

If you haven't presented a visible and desirable lifestyle = no chance for impulse buying.

What is the percentage impulse buying contributes to real estate sales? I don't know, I am not a real estate agent, but in my own life it has been about 75%! The remaining 25% is timing and cash flow which motivates me to look. I would never have bought that 4 story home in Denver if the foyer was painted. The rest of the house was not practical but so what! I am an impulse buyer. Someone had the foresight to suggest a desirable lifestyle with a pattern in a wallpaper. (Wallpaper is coming back by the way)

The moral of the story? "Point of Sale Merchandising sets the stage for the impulse buyer to buy on impulse". I think you know where I am going with this.

Stage It Forward!