Tips for sellers

Selling realistically? Look through the buyer's eyes

20 November 2025 · 4 min read

When people decide to sell their house, we often notice that sellers find it hard to look at their own home objectively. That is not surprising: you have lived there for years, you have done a lot of work yourself and you know every detail. As a result, you mainly see the home through the lens of emotion. And it is precisely that emotion that makes you judge your house differently from the way a buyer does.

Why it is so hard to look at your own home

A buyer looks with a fresh, critical eye and has no emotional bond with your home. They do not see memories, but features. Not personal value, but market value. As a seller you are full of context and experience; a buyer looks purely at what is actually there. That is why sellers are slower to notice defects and often overestimate the value of features that mean little to a buyer.

The exercise every seller should do

First, settle on an asking price in your mind. Then walk outside, about fifteen metres from your house, turn around and look at your home as if you were seeing it for the first time, but with that asking price at the back of your mind. From that moment on, you notice the same things a buyer sees: you look at the roof and wonder how much longer it will last, you see that the paintwork is no longer as crisp, and the garden needs more maintenance than you thought.

Inside, that feeling grows stronger

When you then walk inside, that feeling only grows stronger. You see the meter cupboard that may be outdated, the worn floor, a hallway that looks cluttered, a living room that suddenly seems smaller when you think of the amount you want for it. At that moment, you feel exactly how a buyer experiences your house.

It is all about presentation

This exercise is not meant to lower your asking price, but to get your home ready for sale in the right way. Because appearance is hugely important for a sale. A fresh garden works wonders, and it often costs little to tidy up the garden and buy a few new plants. The effect is enormous.

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