The overall appearance of a listed property, both inside and out, plays a crucial role in a successful sale. That simple fact is the driving force behind one of the fastest-growing trends in the real estate industry: home staging.
While factors such as location and asking price affect a listing’s success, they are often out of a seller’s control and are unlikely to convince a buyer to commit to a listing that they find aesthetically unpleasing. Sellers have long known that improving their home’s appearance increases the likelihood of a faster sale or higher closing price. Home staging is simply the process of using professional consultation and assistance to enhance a home’s visual appeal.
What is Staging?It takes more than simple cleaning to make most homes attractive to wide range of buyers. A coordinated home staging highlights your home’s strongest suits, masks its shortcomings, and generally helps the buyer imagine how the home might look if they lived there.
Home Staging is commonly misconceived as a form of home decoration. In fact, the opposite is true: the purpose of home decoration is to individualize spaces in your home, whereas one goal of home staging is to reduce the personal touches you have added. By presenting furnishings, room arrangements, and decorating styles that are more universal, the staging makes it possible for your home to impress a wider range of buyers.
Some examples of common home staging techniques:
· Re-painting bright walls to neutral, space-opening colors
· Removing excess furniture/furnishing to open up spaces
· Rearranging existing furniture to improve room flow
· Removing/Replacing family photos, art and personal decorations
· Adding new lighting and/or window treatments
· Replacing current furniture with rented pieces
Where does one find staging help?The home staging profession has developed over recent years into a full-time real estate support industry. Thousands of individuals have studied to earn the Accredited Staging Professional (ASP) designation from the International Association of Home Staging Professionals. These professionals provide services ranging from simple consultation to a full re-working of a home’s interior and exterior.
Benefits of a staged home:
Initially, home staging was primarily a tactic used by sellers of luxury properties who wanted to distinguish their homes from other high-end listings. Today staging is common within nearly every price range and niche market.
Home staging is particularly beneficial if your home is either currently vacant or is still your primary residence and has been for some time. In the case of vacant homes, staging livens up empty spaces and provides a visual frame of reference for buyers. If you have lived in a property for several years, staging simplifies each room and allows the home’s quality to speak for itself.
Ultimately, staging provides sellers an effective means of securing a competitive advantage.
How Do You Feel About Having Your Home Staged?
