It’s All Visual: The Importance Of Floor Plans

Welcome to March’s Homewatch post. In this installment, we discuss the value a floor plan can bring to a listing, and how a floor plan benefits both the Seller and potential Buyer.

In a competitive market, Sellers are well-served when their listing broker provides more, not less, information for Buyers to review in advance of actually crossing the threshold of a property. Seriously, what’s with those Realtors who post blurry, oddly-angled photographs showing open crammed closets, messy kitchens littered with dishes or a feature shot of a toilet?

The same goes for listings without floor plans. For Buyers who are spatially challenged, trying to interpret the size of a property using only general room dimensions can be impossible. Worse, if you’re part of a generation who think in Imperial Measurements, trying to resolve whether a place will fit all your stuff can be an even more difficult challenge when a listing posts room dimensions in Metric!

Influenced heavily by the visual, we appreciate a listing which has a floor plan. We can instantly determine if the circular concrete support column in a modern loft is situated in a location that will make furniture arranging a challenge, or if the master bedroom in a darling house can fit our Buyers’ king-size bed. A floor plan helps convey whether an open concept space plan will fit a big dining table, or if the kitchen has room for a breakfast nook. As far as we’re concerned a floor plan is both essential and an amazing sales tool. That is why we make floor plans part of the comprehensive service that we deliver at urbaneer.com.

As real estate and associated technologies evolve, so do Buyer expectations, and this is becoming increasingly prominent in the visual representation of a property. As we bridge the ‘old school’ program of traditional print promotions while the internet plays an increasingly critical role, the way real estate will be presented will radically change. And it all starts with a floor plan.

When purchasing a home, bricks and mortar are only part of the equation. As important, is the ability for a Buyer to be able to envision transplanting their lives into a new space. Granted, understanding a property is a multi-sensory experience that incorporates some emotional elements as well, but the anchor is visual.

Pictures are important, but on their own, they lack concept of depth and space – both crucial elements in identifying if a prospective property will feel like ‘Home’. If the pictures are like the cover on a book, then a floor plan represents the contents, and can in many ways determine the measure of engagement of imagination. Pictures show a property, but floor plans give essential context to a prospective Buyer. They also answer the age old question: where will I put all of my ‘stuff’?

Case in point: One of our listings received an offer recently because urbaneer.com posted a promotional piece on the building’s bulletin board that boldly showcased the suite’s floor plan. The Buyers, who live in the complex, returned home to face their daily reality of having too much stuff and not enough space. Seeing the flyer, the Buyers suddenly realized they could solve their crammed quarters dilemma by simply moving to a larger suite in their very same building. These Buyers, who were not actively looking to move but were unsettled about their predicament, were instantly presented with an easy solution when retrieving their mail. In our dealings, the Buyers specifically said it was the floor plan that caught their eye. In a quick scan they could instantly see that the unit was large enough to accommodate all their needs.

Sometimes this is how properties sell: The serendipity of a well-placed floor plan.

Take for example as well one of our recent sold listings. It was a one bedroom and den patio towne with a private sun-drenched terrace. There were two critical features of this property which made it especially appealing. The first was the generous terrace which is extremely rare to find in a $369,000 price point. The second was – in an era where developers call a front hall foyer with a nook a ‘den’ (how oh-so-aggravating!) – in this listing the ‘den’ is actually a private light-filled room (with a door!) that could serve as a terrific child’s bedroom. For single parents and part-time kids, finding a child-friendly residence with parking for under $400,000 is extremely rare! By including a floor plan on MLS and in urbaneer.com’s promotional materials (we are huge fans of PLANiT Measuring for their quick responsiveness and attention to detail), we could successfully communicate these benefits to the property’s ideal target markets.

Finally, and perhaps most simply, having a floor plan ensures a Buyer has an accurate understanding of the square footage they are purchasing. In an industry where ‘guesstimation’ is not uncommon, and there is little recourse for the Seller or realtor who misinterprets square footage, a floor plan is a sure-fire way to both protect the Seller and ensure the Buyer is properly informed.

At Urbaneer, we pride ourselves in having our fingers on the pulse of the Toronto real estate market. With a multi-disciplinary education on the Toronto housing market including finance, construction, design, urban planning and the psychology of housing and home, plus over twenty-five years of renovation, development, sales and marketing experience, we are a unique full-service real estate boutique with a sterling reputation. Do you need help navigating your housing choices, and to determine your next move? Are you a Seller seeking a custom strategy to garner top dollar? We are here to help! Call us at 416-322-8000!

We’re here to earn your trust, then your business.

Steven Fudge, Sales Representative
& The Urbaneer Team
Bosley Real Estate Ltd., Brokerage • (416) 322-8000
http://www.urbaneer.com • info@urbaneer.com

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