Successful Sellers Know How to Think Like Buyers

I recently spent some time listening to friends who are thinking about moving across the country and buying a house.

They told me that even though there is a seemingly endless list of houses for sale, not all home sellers are making the most of the house they're trying to unload.

When it comes to putting your house up for sale, the big problem for most homeowners is thinking like a seller. Most homeowners think that the house that they lived in, and loved, is the house they're trying to sell.

In fact, if your house is for sale, you'll have better luck selling it if you think first like a buyer and then like a seller.

It's clear to me that the cable channels HGTV, Bravo and Discovery have changed the way home buyers think. They want something that has character, is in good shape and is move-in-ready. Shows such as HGTV's "Designed to Sell" have convinced buyers that all homes for sale should -- at the very least -- have a fresh paint job, matching stuff and personality.

If your house is for sale and you haven't repainted in the past 10 years and don't have matching knickknacks on your coffee table, it could look dated compared with the competition.

But that's just the beginning. If a house is for sale and it doesn't meet the needs of today's buyers, no matter what price range, you're going to have a hard time selling it.

I recently visited a house that's been for sale for more than six months. It has the decorating thing down pat, right down to the two blue boys' rooms and one pink girl's room, but I instantly knew why it hadn't sold: The sellers had made a strategic mistake when they renovated the first floor.

The kitchen, dining room and family room have big windows that face the lovely back yard and pool. But the order of the rooms is the kitchen on the left, huge dining room in the middle and family room on the right. The family room, which is more casual, leads to a much more dressed-up formal living room.

When the owners redecorated, what they should have done was create one massive kitchen/family room, incorporating the kitchen and dining rooms. The family room should have been the dining room, and the owners should have pulled up the ceramic tile and replaced it with hardwood floors to give the rooms a better flow.

No big deal, right? Someone buys the house for a steep discount and makes the change. Well, that's ideally how it should work, but buyers today don't want to take on big improvement projects. There are too many houses for sale in which the flow already works well. They can buy a great house for a great price without having to commit to a lot of work.

If you can't remember how to think like a buyer, here are a few suggestions: