Engage
Lifestyle theming has always been a valuable part of model merchandising to help buyers picture themselves living in the house. Children play a tremendously important role in the home buying decision, DeWalt says, and their rooms can be merchandised fairly simply. “You can do wonderful decals or use a chalkboard paint and write sayings on the walls or draw pictures.” Dirks recommends playing up places for pets, cozy reading corners, and “reminders of more confident years they’ve had that will make them feel those times will come again.”
As Green points out, “If we can get them to stay in the house longer, we have a better chance of selling them.” Installing a Wii gaming system or a karaoke machine in a bonus room are easy—and inexpensive—ways to accomplish that.
Be Selective
Our expert designers had differing opinions on the subject of whether or not it’s okay to leave some rooms in a model unmerchandised. They’ve done it when they’ve been asked, but it’s certainly not ideal.
“We have participated in partial models, where you do the main rooms you see first—the entry, the great room, and the master suite—and everything else is barren,” Dirks says. “I’d rather do the whole model in a much simpler fashion. I’d eliminate the drapery from the windows before I’d encourage a partial model.”
DeWalt’s preference is to scale down on the furnishings and dial up the color. “You have to grab buyers as soon as they come in the door,” she says. “Nothing can do that like color. We like to do a punctuation wall to make them smile as soon as they come in. Every room has to have that.”
For builders who just don’t have the cash for a fully merchandised model, Pearlman is offering her customers a limited design service called The Essentials that focuses on a floor plan’s focal points and leaves some rooms, such as secondary bedrooms, bare except for flooring, paint, and window treatments. “We’re targeting the areas with emotional triggers,” Pearlman says.