How often have we driven up to a house for sale, liked what we saw from the outside and then entered the house – only to have all of those positive vibes disappear.

If you have no defined entry to your home and enter straight into the living room with chairs and lounges blocking your line of sight, everything starts to feel crowded and small.

An entry is all about expectations to what lies beyond, it is the buyer’s first impression of the inside of the home. You need to connect with the buyers to get that, “Welcome, come on in”, feeling.

Most buyers connect with a property in the first 60 seconds. You need to grab their attention, make them get that emotional feeling and want to see more.

If your entry is lacking, then the sales pitch becomes harder to overcome the first impression.  You have already lost that, ‘I love it, I must have this house’, feeling.

You need to make some changes
Often your floor plan will govern what restrictions you may have in changing this area, but things can be done. Remember you are selling and it is the visual appeal to the buyer, not necessarily how you are living in this space. First of all try and remove some of your furniture items from the living area, then place the furniture pieces e.g. lounge, chairs away from the entry, further into the living area. Try and have a sight line from the front door to further into the room. Where possible move your furniture away from the walls.

Create a room within a room
This will make the area appear larger. Place a rug under your lounge, chairs to centre the furniture to give a room inside a room feel. Visually this gives the room a feeling of more space. Move this area as far away as possible from the front door.

Now hopefully you have been able to create a vacant area near the wall from the front door, so when the buyers enter they feel this is an entry, not a living area.

Most buyers connect with a property in the first 60 seconds. You need to grab their attention, make them get that emotional feeling and want to see more.”

Dress to impress
Now you need to dress this area to add to that feeling for the buyers. You may consider changing the swing of the door from left to right so you can achieve this. Try and fit a small table or bench on the wall, a mirror or a piece of art, perhaps a pot plant and a few accessories. This will attract the buyer and give the impression of an actual entry, before they step into the living area. If the room does not permit this, then put a nice pot plant in a container just inside the door, with a runner rug to give the illusion of a hallway.

Remember it only takes 60 seconds to connect with your buyers!