The Purpose of Staging
Home Staging presents your home as the very best version of itself. Much like your getting dressed up for a job interview or a special event. What does it mean to stage a house? Home Staging can include:
- repairing the home
- making minor cosmetic updates
- cleaning
- decluttering
- removing personal items
- updating paint
- arranging furniture, accessories, and art
Home Staging presents the house is such a way that the buyer can picture herself living in the home. Staging a house makes the home look warm and inviting, and it allows buyers to visualize the possibilities for the space.
Home Staging is transforming “your home” into a clean, calm, comfortable, and welcoming place that will sell more quickly and for more money in today’s market!
The way you live in your home and the way you market and sell your house are two very different things. Part of the joy of owning a home is that you can do whatever you want with it, to it, and in it. Staging removes that unique personality you’ve given your home.
When your house is for sale, you are no longer a person who is living their busy life, surrounded by all their beloved stuff; you are a person selling the most valuable asset they own. You are no longer living in “your home” but you are living in a “house for sale.” Living in a house for sale is not as convenient or as comfortable as living in your home was, but in order to get the best offers, in the least amount of time, your home should make the buyer feel welcome by making sure your house is clean and tidy, decluttered, depersonalized, well lit, and looking up-to-date.
Why Home Staging Works
Home staging is about creating a life style for the targeted buyers. The focus is no longer on what decorating style YOU like or how YOUR family lives in the house, but now the focus is on THE BUYER. Using demographic information and studies of what are the most popular colors and styles in the targeted group of buyers, a staged house can be marketed most effectively to the largest group of people.
Staging your home makes it look bigger, brighter, and cleaner, accentuates the positive aspects of the property, and removes or downplays the negative features. It’s all about creating a sense of possibility and potential, about creating an inviting space to inspire buyers, and to generate a mood of “WELCOME HOME”
And…not staging your home just helps make the competition look better!
The Reason You Should Stage Your Home
You may be wondering; “Why should I Stage My Home,?” much less than how should I stage a house” My answer is simple – do it for the financial benefits! Staged homes usually sell faster (on average in half the time that unstaged homes do), and homes that sell quicker usually sell for more money.
According to a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors®; Homes that sold in
- the first 4 weeks averaged 1% more than the list price
- 4 to 12 weeks averaged 5% less
- 13 to 24 weeks averaged 6.4% less than list price
- 24 weeks averaged more than 10% less than list price
Homes that are staged are seen as “well-cared for” and “move-in ready” by most buyers …and a home that is well-cared for and move-in-ready is much more desirable to buyers and therefore has a higher value. That is how staging increases the value of your home!
Your home is the place where you spend much of your time and the heart of your family but it is also your largest financial commitment. Don’t leave money on the table by not maximizing the potential of your home for sale.
When you make your home look clean, inviting, spacious and well-cared-for, and up-to-date you set it apart from the other homes that are similar but are vacant or poorly staged. The whole focus is on selling the home quickly, because a faster sale usually means more money in your pocket!
Home Staging is an Critical Investment in Getting your Home Sold
Studies done by the National Association of Realtors® show that home staging is the most valuable investment a homeowner can make when placing their home on the market. You may be thinking “Isn’t that just a fancy way of saying I have to spend money”?
It might seem counter-intuitive to spend money to get a house ready to sell, but the key is that the money you spend to stage your house is not a cost but an investment. What is the difference between a cost and an investment? A cost is money spent on something without any chance of recovering the money spent, but an investment is money spent that should return a profit. The goal of home staging is to make your house so desirable that it will sell quickly and for a higher price than it would have sold for without staging….and that means you will have MORE money in your pocket in the end.
Transforming your house into a clean, calm, comfortable, and welcoming place by using a professional home staging service to help your stage a house will help the prospective buyer imagine themselves living there. When buyers see themselves living in a house, that is when they are ready to buy.
So yes, home staging does mean spending some money, but the cost is very reasonable and is always MUCH LESS than the first price reduction you will take if your home sits for months without selling!!