First, lets clarify staging. It is NOT fixing that leaky faucet or broken window. That’s normal maintenance, and our assumption is “Just fix it” if you want to maximize the tools available for selling your home.
Staging is another level that brings into play courtship and attraction. Think of it as an eighteen year old girl applying cosmetics and designer touches to create sex appeal!
Staging is a promotional tool: Marketing on steroids.
Home staging has been proven to get us the best value out of our home. Staged homes often sell faster and for a higher price.
Staging throughout your home creates immediate buyer emotional interest in your property. Staging emphasizes your home’s most appealing features and minimizes the undesirable ones.
Unfurnished and empty homes look stark, naked, and uninhabitable. All buyers see are the blemishes and work that needs to be done.
Buyers spend an average of 6 to 9 minutes in an empty home and 40 minutes in a staged home. Staged homes capture the buyers’ imagination. Buyers can picture themselves living in the home as a family. The chef preparing meals, kids watching TV or playing games, and sharing a bottle of wine while entertaining friends in their new home. Warm and inviting homes seem to say: “Stay awhile longer.”
Staging allows a potential buyer to envision how their lifestyle will be improved by moving in. Buyers will mentally move into the home, and imagine where the couch will go, where their furnishings will add to the mix. It is unusual to see a buyer offer on a home without first going through this process. Many buyers just cannot see beyond an empty home’s blank canvas.
With many houses on the market, some buyers find it a challenge to remember the details a few days later. Staged homes make an emotional impression that can be vividly recalled. This drama makes the difference between selling or languishing on the market.
Recognizing the “tell signs”, a skillful agent or owner will sense the interest and begin the closing process.
Homes that are already partially or fully furnished can also benefit from staging. If you have furniture to sell, you would normally begin by having it cleaned and polished. Preparing your home for sale by staging creates that lasting first impression necessary to give your home an edge over the competing homes currently on the market.
Lifestyle, the way you live in your home, is considerably different from the way you market and sell your home. Stagers focus on making homes look spacious and carefree. Often a lived-in home has too much furniture and “personality”
Home stagers typically remove a homeowner’s clutter as the first step. Think simplicity, sound, and sophistication. Furnishings and belongings that do not create a relaxing ambience should be removed. They can be packed and moved into storage, sold at a tag sale, given to relatives or friends, or donated to good will.
Most of us become accustomed to our homes as they are and lose the ability to be creative. Force of habit keeps us stuck with the status quo, unable to effectively see how changing a few little things can provide big results.
The Love it or leave it TV program showcases this phenomenon. If we lack the ability to stage our home, consider it a small investment to facilitate a sale. Homeowners can often help with the process, but need a little help overcoming the emotional and personal “investment” they have. Looking objectively beyond our own lifestyle and “neutralizing” features as needed will appeal to a broader base of home buyers.
Clean, clutter, and carefree are another set of objectives. Your home should sparkle, as in just move in and enjoy this home. Personal effects should be minimized, including those photos on the wall. Closets should be half full, not overflowing. People are just too busy these days to want to come home to a house full of work.
The trade-off of staging of course is how fast do we want to sell, and what will it cost me to accomplish this?
Spending $5,000 to net a faster sale with a $2,000 increase in price doesn’t make much sense. Investing less than a few thousand however, to net out $10,000 or more may be worth it. A 3% bump in price (normal) for a $500,000 home is a tidy 15 grand.
Not a bad return on investment.
The 80/20 rule is probably the best rule of thumb to determine how to stage your home. Find the least expensive solutions that will give us the best net results. Rearrange furniture or remove some so that rooms appear more spacious and take advantage of a view. Throw a splash of color on one wall. Add a fabric that softens noise.
Engage all of the buyer’s senses in a stimulating but subtle way. A few well placed candles with a seasonal scent that covers up pet odors is a good example.
Staging or not, don’t forget the flowers.
We can help you when you want to create the best possible first impression for your home.
Give us a call so we can help.