What Buyers Notice in a Home's First 60 Seconds

By Cory Lauer

Originally from central Ohio, Cory graduated from the University of Mount Union in 1999 and moved to Southwest Florida. In 2001, he launched his real estate career, earning “Rookie of the Year” at a top local firm before opening his own brokerage in 2004.

After showing somewhere between 25 and 30 homes over the last week and a half, I’ve been paying close attention to something most sellers never think about: what actually hits a buyer in the first 60 seconds of walking through the front door. That first minute matters more than people realize, because it shapes how a buyer feels about everything they see afterward.

Here are the four things they notice right away, and what you can do about each one.

The first thing they notice is the smell. Before a buyer takes in the layout or the finishes, their nose gets there first. The question is what it finds. Is it cookies, a light air freshener, something fresh and pleasant? Or is it the smell of a pet or some other odor the seller has stopped noticing because they live with it every day? A welcoming scent puts a buyer at ease the moment the door opens, and that ease carries into the rest of the showing.

My personal favorite is the smell of Fabuloso, though there’s a balance to strike here. You don’t want the scent so overpowering that a buyer walks in, gets hit with it, and immediately wonders what you’re trying to cover up. Pleasant and subtle does the job.

Cleanliness and a lack of clutter come next. Open the front door to stuff everywhere, and a buyer has a hard time focusing on the features that are actually meant to sell the home. Clutter pulls the eye in every direction and makes it tough to picture living in the space.

A clean, decluttered home lets a buyer focus on what matters and signals that the property has been cared for. This is one of the reasons a little staging effort goes a long way toward making a home irresistible to buyers, because you’re clearing the path for them to imagine themselves there.

Light and bright changes how a whole home feels. When I walk into a home that’s dingy and dark, I find myself going room to room, opening blinds and turning on lights, because a dim space feels smaller and less inviting than it really is. Sellers, take some advice from me here: you know better than anyone how your home looks its best, so before a showing, pull the blinds and turn on some lights. That way, I’m not doing it for you and risking moving something out of place on my way out. A home that’s already light and bright when a buyer steps in makes that first impression for you.

Accentuate your home’s best feature. A lot of homes here have something special worth showing off, a pool, a lake view, something that sets the property apart. If a buyer walks through the front door and that feature is blocked by furniture, blinds, or anything in the way, it takes away from the experience. Make sure the thing that makes your home memorable is the thing a buyer sees, not something they have to work to find.

None of this is complicated, and that’s the point. A pleasant scent, a clean and decluttered space, plenty of light, and a clear view of what makes your home special; these are small, manageable steps that shape the way a buyer feels in the first 60 seconds. Get them right, and you’ve set the tone for everything that follows. If you’re thinking about selling and want help getting your home showing-ready, I’d love to walk through it with you.

Call or text me at 239-444-6100, email me at cory@thecorylauergroup.com, or visit thecorylauergroup.com to get started. And as always, don’t forget: only the sunset covers Southwest Florida better.