Make Your Home Stand Out This Autumn

By Francis Lopez

Meetings with homeowners often include a variation of the question: How can my home stand out among other homes on the market? This question becomes even more important during the traditionally busy fall real estate market.

The market has already seen an increase, with 35% more inventory compared to last year.¹ We are expecting this trend to continue into the fall market, with potentially an even larger increase as more buyers during the pandemic see changes in their adjustable-rate mortgages.

With this increase, home sellers will have to evaluate the opportunities they will have to catch the eyes of home buyers. Properties will have predetermined features that achieve this goal, such as the size of the home, assigned school ratings, age of the home, but what are things any property seller can take advantage of to attract the attention of buyers amid all the other properties on the market?

Staging

The human imagination can only do so much, especially when left with a blank slate – or in this case, an empty home. Staging will give your home life while also highlighting its best features if it is staged thoughtfully.

It is critical not only to have staging but to ensure the staging fits perfectly with your home and can also draw the eyes of potential buyers. Too often the staging of a home can be a mixture of different styles or feature furniture sizes that poorly fit a room. A small bed in a large primary bedroom or a queen-size bed in a small office/bedroom combo are common mistakes.

Great staging will highlight the special features of your home. A sage green throw pillow matching the sage green cabinets of a great room, or a telescope next to a large window with a view of the Bay, creates impact. At a home we recently sold on Woodstock Lane, we worked with the staging company to include items featuring the Peanuts characters Woodstock and Snoopy and posters from the Woodstock music festival as playful nods to the name of the street. With the home selling for over a million above the list price, we can certainly assume these extra touches helped create such a great result.

Marketing

An extensive marketing campaign can separate your home from every other home on the market and increase the number of buyers viewing it.

The pandemic and the savviness of Silicon Valley home buyers have changed the real estate market in recent years. Platforms such as Redfin and Zillow have become two of the most used tools for homebuyers in their home search. What is also true is that every other home on the market except for those banned (which occurs when a listing starts off-market) on Zillow or Redfin (See the DeLeon Insight Newsletter, May 2025), is also on these platforms. Work with an agent who will expand the marketing of your home beyond these channels.

A narrated video of your home with moving shots of the property and the surrounding area gives buyers a better sense of walking through your home and learning about the area, including local parks, shops, and schools. Along with a narrated video, local TV commercials are very effective to highlight your home to others in your area.

Marketing to individuals outside of your home’s city can unlock a section of buyers who may not otherwise consider your home an option. If I am curious about homes in Palo Alto, I can set up my home search platform to look for homes in that city but as I am reading Palo Alto Weekly, I may catch a glimpse of a home in a nearby city, such as Los Altos or Menlo Park, and realize it fits my needs just as well. With the continued exodus out of San Francisco to the Peninsula, savvy agents will advertise their listings in San Francisco newspapers to take advantage.

Chinese marketing is still as important as ever and if you ignore this marketing, you are setting yourself behind any home that is. A mixture of overseas Chinese investors and current residents already living in the area make up a large portion of the home buyer base in the Peninsula. While they may understand and can speak and read English very well, their comfort with Mandarin or Cantonese will highlight your home against all others not utilizing Chinese marketing.

Disclosures

The word disclosures can create fear or worry in a seller’s eyes when first mentioned due to the connotations of bad or scary news being associated with them. This does not have to be the case as a home seller can use their disclosures to positively stand out.

Real estate agents and their buyers will review many disclosure packets before they find the right home and using the disclosures to show off you and your home can make all the difference.

Worried about a rainwater leak that happened five years ago but was fixed immediately and has not caused any issues since? You shouldn’t be too worried as your disclosures can show you took great care in maintaining the home by fixing the problem with no recurrence, even through the large storms we have experienced in the past few winters.

I have met several homeowners asking if it is worth the time to write a sheet with all the maintenance they have done on their home over the past several years of ownership. The answer is absolutely, yes. This again will show how well maintained the home has been and it can also help the buyer feel comfortable with your disclosures, knowing you were thoughtful in preparing them.

Gone are the days of simply listing your home on the MLS and hoping buyers will be interested in your home. Standing out in the crowd is a big challenge for homeowners as inventory increases but if you combine your home’s features with prime opportunities such as carefully crafted staging, marketing, and disclosures your chances of doing so will only be stronger.

Citation about real estate inventory increase:  1. https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/07/28/bay-area-june-home-sales/

Francis Lopez (DRE #02119541) | francis@deleonrealty.com | 650.407.0160

DeLeon Realty, Inc. | DRE #01903224 | Equal Housing Opportunity