If You Could Interview Your Home Buyer

We put our house on the market a few weeks ago. As I walked through the rooms and removed any and all elements of family or personalization to “stage” it, I was overcome with melancholy.  We raised our family in this house; our youngest son knew of no other homes. He was born here. Our daughter was eight years old when we moved in and quickly made friends will all the neighborhood kids. Now grown and out of the house, both kids are feeling the pain of moving too. Other than having to come back and clean out their old stuff, they are sad because they wanted their own children to eventually see and experience where their mom or dad grew up.  They want another Christmas there. I wish we could wait for that but it’s time to move on. 

We’ve had a couple of open houses and since we have a security camera inside our home, we can see the expressions and hear the comments of potential buyers. Some people smile, some point, some send their children out to play in the backyard. A few times I returned home as the open houses were ending and there were potential buyers still milling around. I wanted to tell them just how great a house it is but instead I had to get out of the way and let them make up their own minds.

Everyone tells us that all we need is one buyer who will fall in love with the house just as we did 23 years ago.  Then, I wish that I could interview that potential buyer as if it were a job interview. If that were a possibility, what would I ask?

Why do you want this house?

What will you do to improve this house, this yard?

Tell me about the dinners/holidays/picnics you had in your former house and how you would put those ideas to use in your new house?

Tell me about the improvements that you made in your former house. What were they and what are your ideas for this home?

Take me through a typical day at your house. How did it begin and end?

How would you love this house?

Obviously we can’t ask a potential home buyer these questions but if you’ve ever had to go through the process of selling your home, you know how difficult it is. It’s hard to get caught up in the emotion of moving to a new place and starting a new chapter.

It’s kind of like starting a new job.