What a buyer decides in the first ten seconds

I have walked buyers through new buildings for most of my career, and I can usually tell how a visit will go before we reach the apartment. People decide fast. By the time the elevator doors open, most have a feeling about the building that the floor plan will only confirm or fight against. So we design the arrival as carefully as the homes themselves: the street, the lobby, the corridor and the front door, in that order.

The street and the entrance

Arrival starts at the end of the block. A buyer sees the entrance before anything else and reads it as a promise about how the building will be run. We make the front door easy to find, set it back from the sidewalk so there is a moment of shelter before you go in, and keep trash rooms, deliveries and garage ramps on a different frontage wherever the site allows.

Materials matter more here than anywhere else in the building, because hands touch them. A solid door, a pull that feels heavy in the hand, an intercom that sits flush and works the first time. None of it is expensive at the scale of a whole building. All of it is noticed.

The lobby

Lobbies are where developers are most tempted to show off, and where we try hardest not to. A double-height space with a chandelier photographs well and feels like a hotel. We would rather it felt like the hallway of a good house: daylight from the street, somewhere to sit, a clear view through to the elevators and a place for packages that does not take over the room. We plan the package room at the same time as the lobby, not afterwards, because a lobby stacked with boxes undoes everything else.

Light carries most of the effect. Where we can, we bring daylight in from two sides, so the lobby never feels like a cave, even on a gray afternoon in February.

The corridor

The corridor is the part of a building most often designed last, and buyers feel it. A long, dim, low hallway with doors on both sides tells people they are in a block of units, however good the apartments are. We keep corridors short, put a window at the end of every one we can, and light them with the same warm color temperature as the homes. Carpet keeps footsteps quiet, and a hard border along the walls stops it looking tired after the first year of move-ins.

The front door, and the first view in

The last few seconds happen at the apartment door. When it opens, the buyer should see daylight. We plan every layout so the first view from the entry runs through to a window, ideally the largest one in the home, rather than straight into a closet or a bathroom door. A short entry with a coat closet to one side gives people a place to put things down before the space opens up.

This is also why we resist squeezing in an extra bedroom at the cost of that sightline. A home that opens to the light feels larger than its square footage, and buyers remember the feeling long after they have forgotten the numbers.

Why it matters after you move in

We design the arrival with buyers in mind because it shapes their decision, but the people who walk it most are the residents. They come home through that door twice a day for years. The sequence that makes a good first impression is usually the same one that makes a building pleasant to come back to, and that is the real test.

If you would like to judge for yourself, our model residences are open most days. Start at the corner, and notice what you notice.