What is Staging and is it Necessary for Selling Your Home?
We have all seen pictures of gorgeous homes everywhere: in the pages of glossy magazines, online, in furniture stores, on HGTV. Your home needs to look like that before you sell it.
Why?
According to the National Association of Realtors, 31% of buyers increased their offer on a home 1-5% because the home was staged. 77% of buyers felt more able to see themselves moving into a staged home, and 40% were more willing to get in the car and visit a staged home they found online.
According to a study done by scientist Sandy Bond of Curtin University of Technology, Feng Shui (the act of arranging a home’s layout and furniture for energy flow) has a positive effect on the sale price of homes.
If you’re unsure on how to stage a home, don’t know what home staging is, or need to know whether you’re up to the task or should call in a professional, then you’ve come to the right place.
1. What Is Home Staging?
Home staging is a process of adding decor, rearranging furniture, and expertly dressing up the home to make it look stunning for listing photos and walkthroughs. Home staging is a marketing tactic that can make even the most dark space feel bright, energetic, and homey.
The reason home staging is so important is that it can quicken the sale of the home that otherwise wasn’t selling. It draws more buyers in from online listing photos and makes the home look like a space that their favorite furniture store would feature in a catalog.
2. What Does Home Staging Entail?
If you are selling an empty home, in most cases you or your real estate agent will need to call in a professional home stager to bring in furniture and home decor to set up the space.
If you plan to live in your home during the selling process, most real estate agents recommend using your existing furniture and home decor to keep cost low when calling in a professional stager.
An experienced realtor will be able to walk into your home and help you compile a list of everything you’ll need to do to stage your home. They might suggest that you:
Move around furniture to create a better layout that gives the illusion of more space, use your existing home decor items like throw pillows, candles, vases, etc. to add home-like touches that pull together the entire room. They will also tell you to clean, clean, clean until you can’t clean anymore. Reduce your personal items to ⅓ of what you had in each room before you decided to list the home to eliminate clutter, and much more.
3. Is Home Staging Worth It?
Home staging is definitely worth doing, and for many reasons. Let’s break down the home seller concerns that staging a home can solve.
I’m Worried My Home Won’t Sell for Top Dollar
The 2017 Profile of Home Staging from the National Association of Realtors found that 31% of potential buyers increased their offer on a home from 1-5% because it was staged. Take the current average national home price of $268,500, for example. Based on NAR’s survey, you could make $2,685 to $13,425 more on a home that’s been staged.
If your home is worth more, that just means you can make more in the long run.
What If No One Comes to See My House?
NAR also reported that home staging convinced 40% of potential buyers to go check out a house they had found on the web. That means staging your home will entice a ton more buyers to come check out your home after they saw your gorgeous listing photos. This is great news!
What if Potential Buyers Don’t Get That “Homey” Feel?
Home staging made 77% of potential buyers more able to imagine themselves living in the house. That connection is essential to the purchase of a property: buyers don’t put in an offer unless they feel emotionally invested in a home. Staging helps it get there.
Feeling Stuck? Call in a Professional
The best first step to getting home staging help is to talk with a realtor. Most top agents will provide you with a home staging guide specifically tailored to your space.