You wouldn’t show up at a job interview in your workout clothes. You would put together an outfit which projects whatever image you want to give to a potential employer in an attempt to put your best foot forward and stand out from other potential interviewees. Selling your home should be approached in much the same way. You have to assume that all potential buyers are looking at properties other than yours and, when all other factors are relatively equal, the home with the most aesthetic appeal is going to stand out from all the others. I find buyers nowadays want a move-in ready property.
Home staging is a process used by many realtors and sellers to help buyers more easily visual making a house their home. It implements such things as color, lighting, and space utilization along with more obvious things like cleaning and de-cluttering. It is an effective tool for accentuating the positives and downplaying the negatives of any property. It provides them with an attractive, impersonal canvas on which to project their own hopes, dreams, and expectations of what they want their new home to be. Staging is the icing on the cake, which, in my opinion, is the best part.
According to Barbara Brock in her article entitled The Importance of Home Staging, a survey of Accredited Staging Professionals, done in 2007 by the training company StagedHomes, showed that 94% of staged homes sold in one month or less on average and were on the market for 80% less time than those properties that were not staged. And on The Real Estate Staging Studio‘s website, it’s said that, particularly in luxury homes, staging can boost prices as much as 50%! This investment of time and very little money by sellers will pay off when their property sells more quickly at a higher selling price.
I personally recommend staging through Niosi Design with all of my seller clients. Kimberly Niosi is an essential part of my team and most of the costs associated with getting your house ready to sell are tax deductible.
