Page 17 - Selling secrets 5 18 2023

best and will attract potential buyers. It’s also important to
focus on the factors that will increase your home’s value and
saleability, such as making sure it’s up to code and making
sure you have a good market for it. Ultimately, you should
be careful not to throw money at items that won’t have any
measurable advantage for you. Investing in the right areas
is the best way to get the most money from your house.

THE 80/20 RULE

Imagine a buyer is in the market for a three-bedroom home
and his agent found him six houses to preview. Each meets
his general criteria, with similar features, is comparable in
price, and is located in the desired area. One would assume
the buyer would have a difficult time deciding between the
houses.

But no matter how similar they may seem, no two houses
are exactly alike. Let’s say that one out of the six houses
has a pool. The buyer is unaware of this feature, however,
because the agent didn’t bother to mention it. The buyer
tours the five houses without pools and isn’t particularly
interested in any of them. Then he sees the sixth house with
the pool. Suddenly, he is ready to make an offer. He might
even pay full asking price, even though this house is more
expensive than the others.

The 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto principle, is a useful
concept that states that 80% of the results of a given situation
will come from 20% of the efforts put in. This concept was
first suggested by Joseph M. Juran and named after Italian
economist Vilfredo Pareto. The 80/20 rule can be applied to
a wide range of scenarios, from business and economics to
sport and psychology. For example, in business, it may be
observed that 80% of a company’s profits come from 20% of
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