When it comes time to sell your property, it has to make a great impression. Not only does the listing have to convey a powerful message with key features, accompanied with the right images, it also has to wow potential buyers in person. If they don’t feel like they are walking into a warm, comfortable, yet fully functional space, they’re more than likely to start noting every tiny defect.
The trick is to preempt those problems by making every room proclaim its own purpose without going overboard. For instance, if you have children, it’s perfectly fine to arrange it in a way that makes it appear as a kid’s room, but too much decor, toys, and the like will look as though it can’t be used for any other purpose. In other words, if you go all-out, you’re effectively pigeonholing the room and that can be a real mental obstacle for buyers to overcome.
Staging works wonders, and the figures bear out just how effective it is. Professionally staged homes sell on average, about 6 percent above the asking price. A full 63 percent of staged homes go under contract at the first open house and 80 percent had a purchase offer in within 30 days. What’s more, sellers of staged homes are 86 percent less likely to have to reduce their price. In addition, staged homes sell more quickly than non-staged homes, with an average of just 23 days on the market versus 90 to 95 days.
HOW STAGING WORKS IN MARKETING A HOME FOR SALE
Marketing a home to sell is just as much art as it is science. You’ve got to make your house appeal to a wide variety of people, from domestic to foreign buyers. This means getting your home ready to show and not only putting a spotlight on the best features, but making each room work to sell the property for you. For instance, Andrea Angott has a Ph.D. in psychology and study the psychology of home staging.
“The most important thing you can do to prepare your home for sale is to get rid of clutter. Make a house rule that for every new item that comes in, an old one has to leave. One of the major contributors to a cluttered look is having too much furniture. When professional stagers descend on a home being prepped for market, they often whisk away as much as half the owner’s furnishings, and the house looks much bigger for it. You don’t have to whittle that drastically, but take a hard look at what you have and ask yourself what you can live without.” —HGTV
What she found was stunning. In her research, the psychologist came to find that the number one problem buyers had was seeing personal items in bathrooms–things like razors, toothbrushes, combs, and other toiletries. Problem number two was buyers seeing a room being used for a purpose other than its original intent. For instance, a dining room that’s made into an office. The reason for this objection is that buyers don’t have the ability to form an impression of a room outside what they see.
STAGING A HOME TO SELL LIKE A PRO
These facts and figures clearly show that a staged home is one that gets sold faster and for more money. Here are some of the best tips for home staging:
- Clean down to the smallest detail. It’s important to give each room a thorough cleaning, from top to bottom and leave no nook, no detail untouched. Clean the light switches, the blades on every ceiling fan, dust the air conditioning vents, and get into every corner in every room. This micro cleaning will pay off big time when people come to see your home.
- Stow away the clutter. Your aim is to create a sense of space, so the knickknacks on the tables have to go, and clear every closet, not until they’re empty, but enough to make them appear more spacious. Clean out the garage and don’t forget the pantry and cabinets.
- Scale back on the amount of furniture. You probably have a few pieces of furniture too many and buyers will notice if they have to navigate around to get from one room to another.
- Make your furniture work for you. Arrange your furniture in a way that creates easy flow and is “social” to make it work to sell the home.Add color and brighten rooms. Fresh, neutral paint in every room is a good idea, as is opening the window treatments to let the sunshine do it’s job.
- Get the curb appeal up to par. Don’t forget to spruce up the outside, a good pressure washing, some colorful plants and flowers, and a nicely groomed lawn will certainly help.
When you’re ready to sell your home and want to market it professionally, then contact me for a free consultation. I’ll help you get your home looking its best and ready to show to sell it in the least amount of time and for the most return on investment.