Real Estate Advice: Know Your Target Demo

During a time when 77 was the average number of days on the market, according to MIBOR Realty Association, this midcentury-modern house in the Windcombe neighborhood on Indianapolis’s north side sold in just four days.

How? The Realtors zeroed in on the target buyer: someone with an affinity for midcentury design. In the listing, Paul Scherrer, co-owner of United Real Estate Indianapolis, highlighted the home’s “unadulterated” state and focused on the original floor plan and period features like the laminate countertops in the enclosed kitchen and bathrooms, and maple built-ins in the library/den. Not every home has such an obvious target buyer, but Scherrer says every house does claim a “point of difference”—whether the location is close to a running trail, near shops and restaurants, or has a floor plan made for entertaining. Pinpoint that difference and emphasize it, Scherrer advises.

In this case, the house, which was being sold by an estate, was also “packed to the gills” with furniture, Scherrer says, which would have detracted from the midcentury features, including clerestory windows with views of the wooded property. He advised the seller to clear everything out, remove much of the ’70s wallpaper, and replace worn carpeting with neutral wall-to-wall, giving the stager a clean slate.

The strategy worked. The first offer on the house was a good one: just $11,900 less than the $329,900 asking price. Homes typically sell for about 96 percent of asking price, Scherrer says, and this case was no exception. The offer was so appealing, the sellers accepted it outright and didn’t counter.

ADDRESS

912 Forest Blvd. North Dr.

FINAL PRICE

$318,000

AGENTS

Nicole and Paul Scherrer, United Real Estate Indianapolis