How do people choose the places they go to for a vacation?
How would you choose a vacation location? When you browse through possible destinations, what matters most? Is it the stats on the number of yearly visitors, the size of the beaches, and water temperatures?
Most likely it will be the drone-shot of a sandy beach with clear-green waters. Or the image of a child swimming underwater surrounded by silvery fish. Or the picture of someone on a cliff-edge about to attempt a bungee jump.
These images evoke a desire within you which sells the location as the preferred place to spend your money.
The same applies when trying to sell your home. You have made the difficult decision to part with this piece of the world that has become a part of you. You and your loved ones have had exciting times in this home and it holds tons of valuable memories.
But will the people to whom you market the property know that? Will they see it as one more home to view or will it strike a chord?
These are questions you will grapple with as you look for the best ways to present your home to buyers. These are also the problems that staging your home will solve for you.
What is Home Staging?
Home staging is the real-estate version of what clothing stores do with clothes they want to sell. They put them on a life-sized mannequin and apply makeup to make the dummy look as real as possible.
It is a far better way to draw attraction to the piece than stacking it on a shelf, along with other clothes.
According to investopedia.com: when real estate agents talk about staging your home, they’re referring to a method of decorating your home that is designed to showcase its best assets, impress buyers, and sell it quickly for the highest possible price.
Howstuffworks.com defines home staging as arranging furniture and decor with the intent to showcase a home for sale.
Home-staging is done after a house has been cleaned, de-cluttered, and painted. The goal is to make it look lived-in, as well as, appear brighter and more spacious.
What are the tangible benefits of staging a home?
1. Sell Experiences
When marketing your home, you should not just offer a house. People don’t buy houses, explains Blue Mountain Real Estate, they buy a chance to fulfill their dreams and improve their lives.
Although people think they make decisions rationally, decisions often start emotionally. Staging a home creates a more emotional viewing experience.
2. Make the RIGHT First Impression
Being inside a property is different from seeing it on the internet; there will be things a person who sees it on a screen cannot feel.
Staging helps to close this distance. Also, it creates “curb appeal”; that impression people get the first time they step out of a car and look at your property.
3. Staged Homes Sell Faster
Most realtors agree that staging a home helps it sell faster. A property that is for sale does not stop costing its owner money. It costs in time, money (mortgage payments and other costs), and the toll on seller’s emotions.
Staging makes it possible to sell a home in days rather than weeks.
4. Get a Higher Selling Price
On average, staged homes sell for a higher price than unstaged homes. Buyers offer more money for a house that is staged because they instinctively place more value on the property. Even in a hot seller market, the “perceived” value of a home that is staged is going to be higher…which helps both sellers and buyers realize and accept a higher price paid.
The difference in sales price between staged and un-staged homes can be as high as 10%.
5. Highlight the BEST Parts of your Home
By staging your home, you will be marketing to your strengths and not your weaknesses. Leaving the house bare allows prospective buyers to spot reasons why NOT to buy or to pay far lower than you ask.
By staging the house, you direct their attention to the best features of the property.
6. Your Home Looks Larger
Staging makes a home look bright and spacious. Minimal furniture gives the impression of roominess, which is good for selling your property.
It is far different from the cramped feeling people get if a room is cluttered with over-sized seats or devoid of furniture and décor.
7. Staged Homes Show as More Move-in Ready
Reducing the amount a buyer needs to spend to make a home move-in ready increases the likelihood that they will buy the property.
This is one of the reasons for staging your home; to help buyers see that a house does not need expensive repairs and replacements.
8. Help Buyers Visualize it as Home
When staring at bare spaces, buyers can find it hard to visualize themselves living inside a house. Staging gives them an idea of how to place furniture and art to actually live there in style. When buyers start to look for a good place for their favorite house-plant, they are almost sold.
Staging is the way to show all that is good about a property you want to sell, which is the goal of your marketing efforts. A well-staged property will elicit quick and often above list price offers from buyers who have a “Fear of Missing Out”. Those buyers won’t let someone else snag their perfect home; more perfect due to the stylish ways in which it was staged.