What you should know about selling empty/vacant houses

It is fairly uncommon to find a property being sold vacant. As a rule, vacant properties are harder to sell than occupied or staged properties. It has nothing to do with the price or quality of the property. It’s how prospective buyers view a vacant home and today’s expectation that Real Estate agents properly prepare and market homes for sale. Here are a few reasons why vacant homes are harder to sell. 

Empty rooms appear smaller than they are

It is hard for buyers to correctly guess the proportions of a room when bare. This is because pieces of furniture in a room give us a frame of reference for measuring the room. Buyers will assume that a vacant room is smaller than one with furniture. This is true even when the vacant room is larger. 

Empty rooms show their flaws

Décor and furniture deflect buyer’s attention away from any flaws a room might have. In an empty room, there is nothing for a buyer to focus on in terms of functionality. Their scrutiny is more thorough and they are likely to fixate on minor issues. 

Empty rooms lack personality

When surveying an empty house, it’s hard to imagine what the room would look like furnished. There is nothing about the room to spark imagination/evoke emotions. As a result, buyers experience the property as a house and not a home. Since emotions are a big part of how people make buying decisions, this results in buyer indecision and wasted time.

Empty homes are harder to market

Selling an empty property forces the owner to build their marketing strategy on the location and price of the house. By staging the house, the seller introduces emotional elements that can be used to promote it. The value of each space, once staged, is highlighted so the buyer is forced to evaluate all the spaces that appeal to them instead of just the overall price of the home.

Empty homes are hard to differentiate

At any given time, there are hundreds of properties on the market that are similar in size, design, and price. When confronted with a choice between two comparable houses, buyers will go with the one that has the greater emotional appeal. A vacant house puts itself at a disadvantage in this regard. Even if it has better features, there is no way to make them shine. 

How Staging a Home Sets You Apart

The latest staging statistics of 4,505 vacant homes showed an 18% increase over list price once professionally staged. Rather than tell buyers about a property, staging allows you to show potential buyers the best aspects of a property. The evidence of the home’s potential is right before the buyer’s eyes giving them hope for the future.

Successful Realtors partner with professional stagers to prepare and market homes that:

Display desired lifestyles

Staging helps you show buyers that the property matches what they envisioned for their dream home. Without staging, the house is nothing more than a structure of wood, cement, and plaster. Staging provides the house it’s identity and personality. 

Maximize spaces

Regardless of how tiny or awkward the rooms in a house are, staging shows value in each space. The spaciousness of a room is more about how furniture, décor, and paint are utilized, rather than actual dimensions. 

Look AMAZING in listing photos

The first place most buyers will encounter a house is on the internet. Staged homes are not only visually appealing; they are specifically designed for the internet. These pictures are highly sharable, which means that a lot more people are going to see the listing and prioritize the listing to visit…which results in faster offers tied to your marketing! 

Increase a home’s perceived value

The final sales price of a property is determined by the value buyers place on it and not what the owner asks for it. Staging a home increases its perceived value because buyers are already emotionally attached to the property and therefore willing to pay more for it. 

The “Fear of Missing Out” phenomenon is real.  Staged properties bring immediate and substantial offers from buyers not wanting to miss out on their dream home! FOMO buyers tend to not negotiate down on price…it’s gratification for them to experience a stylish home that warrants the price. It’s a win-win for the seller to also profit off a great sale and for the Realtor who gains a larger commission and a quick sale!

Boost your brand

The better your homes are presented and marketed as a whole, the better your personal brand will be.  You’ll get more referrals from sellers who appreciate you taking pride in their largest asset as well as preferential viewings from other agents who look forward to your listings consistently marketed as beautiful, move-in-ready homes.

Ready to stand out from the competition and be recognized for listing gorgeous homes?  Click Now

See how a staging investment of just $950 to $2,900 can result in a listing that sells faster and for more money!

As the impact of COVID-19 on our community continues, our hearts go out to those affected. We are navigating through uncertain waters as we continue to help Realtors working with families in immediate need of homes and our clients in financial need of selling their homes quickly through staging. I felt it important to share changes we are making to meet the needs of our home sellers and our Realtor Partners while protecting them and our awesome team of stagers during this pandemic.

Effective immediately, we will not be staging occupied homes or providing anything from our inventory of furniture and décor for a home that is occupied. Once homes have been vacant for three days, we are happy to stage them with our “clean” inventory provided there is no Stop Movement restriction. We have been social distancing so ask that no one else be in the home (to include other trades) during those three days. We have always limited what we provide in occupied homes and continue to have our teams clean and disinfect inventory. Additionally, we have quarantined recently returned inventory for a minimum of three days to ensure all inventory is clean at all times. We disinfect door knobs, light switches and surfaces commonly touched in the home upon leaving. We are monitoring the health and well-being of our team making sure anyone who feels remotely sick…stays home!

We have been asked if homes are still selling and the answer is YES. The Federal Reserve just dropped their interest rate to near zero to keep the money moving for people buying homes. There are a hundred or so new listings this week and there were hundreds of closings last week in El Paso county. People are buying homes even if they have to virtually view them. Stylish finishes/furnishings AND clearly depicted/ functional rooms are essential as we struggle to emotionally connect buyers to their dream home on-line during these difficult times. Uploading photos of beautifully staged homes is more important than ever!

For your added protection, Front Range Stage is now offering virtual consultations for occupied homes that need a little polish to be viewed as move-in-ready on-line. Through a combination of photos clients take and real-time feedback using Facetime, Skype, Duo, or Zoom, all things are possible! Whether it’s moving furniture, recommending upgrades and/or repairs, or discussing the fine line between too little or too much depersonalization, we can provide detailed recommendations in priority order to gain the benefit of a home that appeals to the greatest number of buyers even though the front door is closed!

Your safety is our highest priority and we truly appreciate the trust that you place in our team and our company. We are committed to doing our part to slow the spread of COVID-19. We will continue to closely monitor new developments in the event we need to make any further changes and will communicate those to you.

Thank you for being a valued part of our strong and resilient community. We will get through this together. Please be safe and let us know how we can help!

For the latest update on home staging in Coloardo, listen to this short segment from Steve Haney, The Mortgage Doctor.  We are so thrilled that someone with his vast expertise in the home buying industry is recommending Front Range Stage!  We certainly recommend Steve for all your mortgage needs!

Hiring a professional stager should not be a social media popularity contest!  Thoroughly vet the company and don’t fall prey to the “Bait and Switch”…or B&S.
B&S #1 – A social media referral who stages as a hobby or a Realtor without any formal training or certification
B&S #2 – A figure head who provides you the bid but hands you over to family, friends and assistants to do the actual sub-par work or is a lone stager who doesn’t have the staff to accommodate timely requests/deadlines
B&S #3 – Shows photos of their best inventory but uses second-hand furniture due to a limited inventory
B&S #4 – Promises luxury staging but doesn’t deliver due to using inappropriate size/scale/style of furnishings
B&S #5 – Bids low to get the job but then raises the price or offers free rentals just to get the job…you get what you pay for!

Finding a certified professional stager requires a bit of due diligence.  Front Range Stage utilizes a team approach consisting of 100% Certified Stagers with standardized training and operating principles.  We have the talent and inventory to consistently offer Premier levels of staging as we have for 18 years!  We won’t offer you a $550 vacant home staging package because frankly, that isn’t a big enough investment to pay a talented stager to deliver house appropriate furnishings that would result in multiple offers.  We are seasoned experts who operate with honestly and integrity and will advise sellers to spend that money on paint or other small upgrades to the home instead of staging.  

We are active members of the Real Estate Staging Association making great strides to further “professionalize” our industry by eliminating staging practices and stager behaviors that negatively impact our Realtor Partners.  While Realtors are bound by a code of ethics, not all stagers belong to a trade association with a code of ethics and many did not graduate from a certification training program that has this curriculum.  As just one example, those of us bound by the RESA code of ethics must ensure:  Before photos of an occupied or vacant property staging are never publicly shared in any format until after the sale is closed! 

Do not fall for the B&S…thoroughly vet your stager and ensure bids compare apples to apples.   Ask for a list of homes currently on the market to review the quality of inventory used and to ensure the appropriate amount and scale of décor is used.  Some homes are “over-staged” which can be just as bad.  We use proven design strategies to custom design the staging to elevate the home’s status on the market to draw higher priced offers!

Over the winter months, I’ve been researching and transforming my business to ensure Front Range Stage stays in the forefront of the staging industry.  Yes – we have the best team of designers with the freshest inventory and continue to provide superior staging and customer service as we have over 18 years….AND we’ve been selected as part of a luxury home concierge platform (a very competitive process).  By partnering with them, I can now offer you cosmetic renovation services and professional staging services with NO CASH OUT OF POCKET until the home sells.  

You heard (read) that right: Front Range Stage can now offer remodel and design services AND professionally stage homes where homeowners pay nothing out of pocket.  The homes get fantastically well staged, sell for more, faster, and the homeowner pays for nothing until the home sells.  It’s painless to the homeowner and the Realtor.

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the average staging investment is 1% of a home’s asking price and increases a home’s sales price by 8-10%. For a property listed at $750,000, even a modest 5% increase in sales price equates to $37,500, representing a 400% return on investment, all while reducing the time the home is on the market.  In this respect, we add more value, we sell the homes faster and for more money.  Homeowners benefit by making modest investments up front for the greatest returns on their largest personal investment!

Front Range Stage is busier than ever as we prepare homes for the Spring market.  If you have any kind of design background and want to work part time for the premier home staging company in Colorado Springs and the Front Range, please email your resume and/or samples or your work (school, social media, etc.) right away.  We have a company vehicle to use, a massive warehouse of fresh furnishings and accessories to stage any style of home and are excited to be growing or team!  We offer the most competitive compensation in the industry.  Apply today!

It’s been a banner year for Front Range Stage!  Our Colorado Springs Real Estate Staging Statistics are on par with the rest of the nation and we are still batting 100% for winning the Parade of Homes People’s Choice award when staging beautiful homes in any price category!

I know taxes are on your mind right now so discuss with your CPA your own situation but know that Front Range Stage offers our Realtor Partners an end-of-year summary of all staging expenses and W-9 for ease in determining whether you can claim our staging services as a deduction/contracted service when spending over $600 in a year.  If you took advantage of Real Estate Staging to sell your home last year, those expenses are also deductible if used for marketing your home!