Staging is not just about moving furniture, decorating and moving a few objects in the house. It is way more. Kathy Streib shares some great thoughts about this topic:

When selling real estate – or any other product – there are always two sides that need to be considered. There is a difference between the PRICE and the VALUE of a property.

1. The PRICE is the amount of money you are asking for the property.

2. The VALUE is whether the buyer perceives that your property is worth or desirable for that price.

The perceived value is influenced by many factors, such as location, condition, features, appeal, and comparison to other listings in your market area. If your house has been on the market for some time and you have not received offers or not the offer that you desired to achieve, this is an indication that the buyers do not perceive the value of your property worth the price you are offering it for.

When selling your house you are in business and it is important to understand today’s real estate buyers and what they consider valuable in their decision when making their single largest expense. Buyers today are not buying the same way as buyers from just a few years ago. Due to a large selection of homes available to them on the market, buyers can afford being picky and in what they want to have. So what are some things buyers are looking for:

• A move-in-ready home: most buyers do not want to purchase projects when they make their single largest expense. They want to be able to move in and immediately continue with their life without having to spend more money and time.
• Buyers are looking for a lifestyle. They do not just buy a house, they buy a home, a lifestyle they are dreaming of.
• Updated kitchen and bathrooms
• High-end finishes for appliances
• Curb appeal

So, what does this mean for you as the home seller? Are you showing your house at its best value to your buyers?

What are some of the things you can do to reveal the true value if your house?

1. Take care of all repairs.

2. Hire a real estate agent - the price value is their expertise.

3. Consult with a professional home stager on how to prepare your house for sale to show the maximum value to your target buyers. The home stager will consult you not only on how to update most cost efficiently different areas to achieve the highest return on investment, but also how you make your property stand out from your competition.

4. Update your kitchen and bathrooms. Your home stager can work with you on the best way to achieve the updated look without breaking your bank. Believe it or not, there are many ways to update a bathroom without having to completely renovate.

5. Arrange for a pre-listing home inspection. You show buyers that you have addressed any defects and thus add value and weight to your disclosure statement. It will eliminate or reduce buyers’ concerns.

6. The curb appeal gives the first impression when driving up to your house – make sure that this impression is a lasting one, so buyers get excited to visit your property. Consider hiring a professional landscaper.

7. Never sell a house vacant – real estate gurus will tell you that this is one of the biggest mistakes. But don’t just put any furniture in. Remember you are selling a lifestyle and added value to stand out from your competition. The right choice of furniture, furniture placement, accessories, artwork, lighting, rugs are critical for your success as each item that you add sends buyers a conscious and unconscious message to feel connected with the house. Call a professional home stager who specializes in vacant real estate staging.

Once you show buyers the maximum VALUE the house will sell faster and buyers are willing to pay more. The spring real estate market is just around the corner. Right now is the best time for you to get prepared to show the maximum value of YOUR house and consult with a professional stager. Don’t take the “let’s see how it goes and if it does not work, we can still hire a stager later” attitude. The most traffic drawn into your house will be within the first 2-4 weeks. If you don’t get the attention of buyer’s real estate agents and buyers looking online, you are wasting all this time on the market. Your house will then become a stale listing that they will not come back to visit, even if you have made changes. So, act BEFORE putting your house on the market and show it at its best value right away.

Ritu Desai shares some great tips about Gree cleaning ideas. There is something to take away for everyone... I will try some of these myself. Thank you Ritu for putting this together!

We all have heard it – kitchen and bathrooms sell houses! This is widely known, but yet we have received often comments from home sellers such as:

• The kitchen is so outdated that we would have to put a completely new kitchen in. We’d rather have the home buyer do that and do it to their taste.
• Updating my kitchen is way too expensive. It is not worth doing it.
• This is too much work, I don’t want to do it anymore, now that I am moving out.

Here is an example of such a kitchen (before):

What would a home buyer think when seeing a house with an outdated kitchen?

• This is not livable for me. I will have to immediately update this kitchen before I even move in here.
• This will cost me $30,000 to $45,000 that I have to immediately spend right after I just made my single most expenditure.
• How long will it take me to get this fixed. I am not sure I can live in here for that long without having a kitchen. I have kids to feed and to prepare family dinners right away when moving in. Where will I be able to do that when the kitchen is under construction? What is the food take out cost in addition to the renovation cost?
• This is too much hassle for me. I ‘d rather look for a house with a decent kitchen.
• If this kitchen is already not well maintained, I assume the rest of the house also has not been updated as well. This house will be a money pit. Let me see the next listing in this market area.

With 92% of home buyers looking online first to decide which properties to visit, it will be hard to get buyers to even come to visit your house if the kitchen does not look updated.

So, should you bother sprucing up your kitchen when selling your house?

The answer is absolutely! In most cases, if your cabinet bones are in decent shape, there are many ways to give your kitchen an updated look without breaking the bank and going through the hassle and expense of installing a completely new kitchen. The goal with updating and staging an outdated kitchen is to show buyers that they can comfortably move into the house without having to immediately replace the kitchen. We want to show buyers that they can move in and live here for quite some time until they have the money to invest into a new kitchen.

Don’t forget that typically the house is a home buyer’s single largest purchase in their lives – it takes them a while to financially recover to be able to invest in major projects such as kitchen updates.

Houses with nice kitchen and updated appliances sell faster and for a higher price. Knowing where to invest in for getting the highest return on investment in a kitchen update is key to the success when preparing a home for sale to sell fast and at the top dollar.

Birgit Anich Staging & Interiors has prepared many kitchen in Fairfield county Connecticut for sale to stand out from the competition and to sell faster. Here are some examples of our before and after kitchen photos:

I am sure you have heard this before: What is the difference between being interested and being committed?

It has been said that “when you are interested, you do whatever is most convenient. When you are committed, you do whatever it takes.”

Are YOU interested or committed to selling your house? This should be your first question when deciding to put your house on the market. YES, you are hiring a real estate agent to help with your home sale, but NO, your agent cannot do this on his/her own. The Real Estate Agent needs your commitment. There are certain aspects in the house selling process that he/she will need your help with, as these can have a big impact on how quickly your house will sell and for how much. These aspects will influence the tools that will be available to your real estate agent for most efficiently and successfully selling your single most valuable asset.

Once a house is on the market it is no longer your home, but a house, a PRODUCT that needs to be sold. Therefore, it needs to be marketed as such, it needs to be merchandised. After all, you are in competition now with all those other home sellers in your area. Products that we purchase on a daily basis are being merchandised and marketed – look at cars, beauty product, fashion, food products.,,,,, A house should not be an exception. So what are the marketing tools that are available to you and your real estate agent?

1. Location – you have no control over this factor. You cannot change the location of the house that you are selling.

2. Condition and Showcasing – how well your house has been maintained and the presentation of the home for promotions and showings. Committed home sellers take this part of preparing the home for sale very seriously. The best, most efficient way to get this step of the home selling process done is by getting advice from a professional home stager. Real estate stagers have extensive knowledge about what buyers are looking for and how to set your house up that these buyers are being attracted. This includes deep knowledge and experience in which home repairs, home upgrades, paint colors, furniture placement,… will give you the highest return on investment and will sell your house faster. As Kris Berg from HGTV’s FrontDoor.com states: “Staging is not a do-it-yourself sport, and only a third party specialist can bring the neutrality and objectivity needed to accomplish the goal.” According to a research conducted by the Real Estate Staging Association (RESA) professionally staged homes sell on average 67% faster.

3. Price – the price is greatly influenced by the Location and the Condition/Showcasing as well as market value. If the listing price is set right, real estate home staging can influence the price buyers are willing to pay. According to several sources such as Barbara Corcoran, National Association of Realtors and others professionally staged homes sell on average for a 5% to 10% higher price.

4. Promotion – Did you know that over 94% of home buyers look online first, before visiting a listing? So, your online presentation is the best marketing tool that you have to get traffic into your house. If buyers do not like the online pictures they will not even take a look at your property – your house will be off the list before even being on the “to visit” list for home buyers. Therefore, it is critical that these pictures look awesome! Having your house staged BEFORE these MLS pictures are being taken will ensure that your house is being presented at its best and will stand out from the competition. Keep in mind that you can lose the sale by ONE click of the mouse. It is all about first impressions and immediate connection with the home buyers within the first 2 to 5 seconds.

Barbara Corcoran, one of the most successful real estate agents in the country, emphasizes the importance of staging: “Staging is no longer an option, but a must if you want to sell your home”. Staging a home for sale is the key to success. Most successful real estate agents across the country will not even accept a listing if the seller does not at least have a home staging consultation and act on the recommendations. These agents know that their marketing strategy would be solely limited to PRICE (see graph below). Yes, at one point the price of your home, after sitting on the market for a long time and having one price drop after another, there will be a buyer eventually. Is this your goal when selling your home? So, are you an interested or a committed home seller?

Staging = Staging …. Are you sure?

Staging is a relatively young industry and as other industries are evolving, also the home staging industry is changing. The blanket approach of mass marketing lies in the past of the marketing world. Home staging should not be an exception. New staging techniques go beyond de-cluttering, de-personalizing and making a space look pretty to appeal to the widest range of buyers. Today, staging has moved on to the next level - a smarter, more informed level, where research is being incorporated to understand the target buyers.

Home buyers nowadays are more sophisticated than ever before. Traditional staging often creates neutralized staging installations that do not draw buyers in as effectively. We all buy with emotions and buying a home is no different.

Our job as professional home stagers is to emotionally connect home buyers to a house. People don’t buy a house, they buy a HOME. Along with selling a space we are selling a lifestyle!

In order to connect most effectively with buyers the staging professional needs to conduct research to understand and target the most likely buyers. Birgit Anich Staging & Interiors specializes in and is a pioneer in Connecticut to implement these most advanced and most successful staging techniques of Target Staging and Lifestyle Merchandising. Based on a discussion with the real estate agent, the home seller and conducing our own research, we are setting up a Buyer’s Profile, which includes information not just about demographics, but also about psychographics of the most likely buyers.

Once the buyer’s profile is completed, we create a stunning staging installation that appeals to these buyers. Every piece of furniture, rug, artwork, lighting and décor item is carefully selected as each item sends both a conscious and an unconscious message giving us the opportunity to emotionally connect with the buyers. With every staging design we are telling a story with a specific person in mind, giving the buyers a lifestyle experience, a dream they aspire to. Our intent is to get home buyers excited when visiting and we want them to go “WOW this house is stunning!! This is how I always dreamed to live. I want this house.” instead of “This is nice”.

Do you remember the last time when you saw this most beautiful jacket that you just fell in love with, but was beyond your budget? Yet you bought it because you loved it – you were willing to reach deeper into your pockets, just because you were emotionally connected with it. Yes, home buyers are also willing to pay more for a house they aspire to and fall in love with. Barbara Corcoran recently mentioned at the Nate Berkus show that great staged properties sell for a 5% to 10% higher price.

The new generation of effective home staging is strategic Target Marketing with Lifestyle Merchandising!

In these economically challenging times, many people are holding off on big investments to update their house. But does this mean that you have to compromise on style and aesthetics while you are living in your home? Or does this mean that you have to make big pricing concessions when selling your home, just because your kitchen is not in par with what buyers are looking for?

As a real estate home staging company in Fairfield county, CT we know that kitchen and bathrooms sell houses. If buyers walk through a house and see that the first thing they have to update is a kitchen, before they even can move in, they just won’t make an offer on your property, but rather on the neighbor’s house that has been kept current in style. Buyers have many houses to choose from and they do not want to buy a “project”, but a move-in ready home.

Therefore, we worked with a recent client to make necessary changes to upgrade the dated kitchen. Here are some tips without breaking your bank that you can implement – either for enjoying a new look while living in it or for getting your house ready for sale:

• The plain “oak look” gives a kitchen a dated look. If the cabinets are in good shape you might want to consider re-facing them. If re-facing is not in your budget, you might want to consider painting them. TIP: bring the cabinet paint all the way to the ceiling trim to extend the visual height of the cabinets and give a larger space impression.
• Replace your old hardware with “new style” hardware. straight lined, simple design, brushed nickel works best for achieving a modern look.
• Granite has come down in pricing over the past decade and is a valuable option for also lower budgets. Granite countertops still has a great re-sale value and will give your kitchen a higher end look.
• In our specific kitchen example below we extended the kitchen countertop to provide a bar / eat-in feature as well.
• Compliment the granite countertop with a contemporary glass tile or other modern looking backsplash.
• A under-mount sink and a new faucet will extend the countertop space by a few inches.
• New and matching stainless steel appliances bring a continuous style into the kitchen
• If the floor is worn or dated, add a new floor as well.
• Coordinate the wall color with your backsplash, countertop, cabinets and floor.
• To top off the design, replace your old lighting fixture that matches the new style and finishes.

Can you use a modern touch in a Cape house? Absolutely! Feedback at the realtors open house was phenominal and drew in traffic beyond expectations of the agent.

Here are some before and after photos - we replaced all furniture except for the dining table, brought in different artwork with color, modern theme to appeal to the younger demographic of the neighborhood:

There are many reasons why a house might be vacant when being sold – various reasons include:

• new construction
• relocation property
• seller has already moved into their new home
• it was a rental property that is now for sale

In all these cases the bottom line is that SELLING the property FAST is CRITICAL. There is a lot of money on the table because of ongoing mortgage costs, maintenance cost, insurance cost, and other carrying costs that need to be paid for all these months that the property is sitting on the market without any income stream.

Selling fast in a buyers market and a down market is a challenge, but especially it is difficult for vacant homes. Vacant homes sell typically slower than occupied homes. What are the 5 biggest mistakes when selling a vacant property?

Mistake #1:Selling the house as a VACANT property

We just said that vacant homes sell slower than houses that are occupied. Why is that?

a. People don’t buy houses, they by homes, they buy a lifestyle! Without furniture, wall art, rugs, lighting, décor,… there are no emotional connection points in the house – the house does not show its soul and any lifestyle buyers can aspire to.

b. Buyers do not have a point of reference

• empty rooms look smaller
• buyers cannot see how much furniture they will be able to fit in the room
• they cannot envision how to set up the room functionally – how should I face the sofa, where does my TV go, can I fit…..

Adding the right furniture, rugs, lighting, wall art and other décor that reflect the target buyers’ lifestyle will make them feel drawn to and helps them envision themselves living in that home.

c. When a room is empty, buyers focus on the negative details
It is so much easier to notice cracks in the walls, paint chips, missed repairs,… if buyers have nothing else to look at. Providing them with a welcoming home they will focus more on how they can live in that house rather than what they don’t like about it. With staging we emphasize the positive features of the property while downplaying the negative features.

d. Only 10% of home buyers can actually visualize the potential of a home

Nine out of every ten people walking in your home have no imagination of the wonderful possibilities your house has to offer.

Mistake #2: Wait to see if it sells vacant

As a home stager in Connecticut, I often receive the response from clients “I want to see first if it sells vacant before I consider staging”. This can be a very costly mistake.

Selling a house is all about FIRST IMPRESSIONS. On a new listing most of the traffic is generated within the first 2-4 weeks.

The Real Estate Brokers open house will get the buyers’ Realtors into the property. They are your “sales staff”. If these brokers do not get excited about what they see, they are less likely to bring their buyers to your property instead of your neighbor’s house on the market.

Let’s say you change your mind down the road and have the property staged and then have another Realtors open house. It will be hard to get Brokers to come back to the property as they have already seen it and do not want to waist their time, nor will their buyers come back for a second time.

So, now you have wasted all that traffic and time on the market without showing the house at its’ best potential. If you had it staged upfront you may have it already sold by now.

Mistake #3: Not make it stand out from the competition

Put yourself into the shoes of a home buyer - 94% of home buyers start their search online first looking at all the photos of houses within their qualifying criteria. This is what they might see:

House #1:

House #2:

What makes your house different from these other vacant houses? Why should they visit your house? There is nothing that would draw a buyer into these houses.

Remember – A SALE CAN BE LOST BY ONE MOUSE CLICK - if your house does not stand out and attract these buyers for a visit, you have lost a potential sale.

Mistake #4: Price has now become your only marketing strategy

Selling a house, typically the home owner’s most valuable asset, is not any different than marketing a commercial product. Location, Condition & Showcasing, Price and Promotion need to be considered together. There is nothing that you can do about the location of the property, but you can influence the other marketing factors. The price is being influenced by the Location and the Condition & Showcasing (the packaging) of the house. The Promotion to bring the traffic into your house will be most effective if the Showcasing and Photographs are professionally done.

So, if there is no showcasing, the promotional pictures will not stand out, so price is now your only marketing strategy.

Buyers are willing to pay more if they feel emotionally connected to a house – on average staged homes sell for a 5-10% higher price tag.

Mistake #5: Seeing home staging as a COST instead of an INVESTMENT

Staging a house for sale can help you MAKE money. It is an INVESTMENT into your home selling process – most investments into home staging range between 1 and 3 percent of the listing price, which yield in a 5 to 10 higher sales price –how nice is this, but this is not all. If selling your house faster you will SAVE ongoing mortgage payments and carrying costs. See more details and examples on how Birgit Anich Staging and Interiors helped their clients MAKING a PROFIT by staging.

Barbara Corcoran, one of the biggest real estate experts in the US, says: “Never sell a home without furniture!” “Once the staging is complete you might even find that you can raise the price”

– see Barbara’s 2 mintues segment on The TODAY SHOW

In our last blog post we spoke about the Staging Consultation and price determining factors of a Home Staging Proposal. Today we will go into more detail of the actual Staging Proposal and the Return on the Staging Investment – how staging helps MAKE money.

The Staging Proposal:

The consultation for occupied homes and the walk-through of vacant homes provide the real estate stager with an overview of what is needed to get the house prepared and ready for a successful sale.

• There are many considerations to be taken into account when preparing a home staging proposal:
• Is it an occupied home or a vacant home?
• What is the size of the home?
• Are there any repairs, updates, upgrades, paint, flooring,… needed?
• Which rooms and how many rooms need to be staged?
• Do we need to bring in furniture and/or accessories to attract buyers? If so, how much and what?
• How many functional areas are to be installed within the rooms?
• Does the home seller do all the work on their own, or some on their own and some being done by the stager, or does the seller want to have everything being managed by the stager?

Every house looks different and has different needs and when pricing a home staging project all these different details and more need to be taken into consideration.

As a general rule over the thumb, home staging prices can range from a 0.5% to 3% of the listing price – again, depending on the specific needs of that property as well as the selling price.

In the beginning I said that real estate staging does not cost anything – it helps making money.

Home staging is not a cost, but an investment.

The National Association of Realtors indicates that staged homes sell on average for a 6 to 10% higher price – a pretty good deal for an investment of 0.5% to 3%.

Studies and statistics conducted by the Real Estate Staging Association (RESA®) have shown that professionally staged homes sell on average 67% faster than unstaged homes. This means months less of expenses for mortgage, insurance, utilities, maintenance and other carrying costs. Add to that the reduced time of stress and worries, having to be prepared every day for a potential showing and having your peaceful life back quicker.

Now let’s look at some specific numbers of a real life example of a property that Birgit Anich Staging & Interiors has recently staged. While most houses staged by Birgit Anich Staging & Interiors are in the $750K to $4M price range, there seems to be the impression that "staging is for high end properties only". Thus we decided to illustrate a lower price example to show how real estate staging helps making money also on lower priced properties. However, the same applies to higher priced homes – the numbers are just getting bigger.

This real example property is located in Norwalk, CT:

Original Listing Price: $410,000

Days on Market BEFORE Staging: 155

Price when Birgit Anich Staging & Interiors was called: $389,000

After reducing the price by $21,000 or 5.12% to $389,000, the price reduction still did not help to sell.

The real estate agent was in a tough spot:

1. Either make another price reduction and have price being the only marketing tool used in selling this property or
2. Make use of a different marketing tool – packaging the product to appeal to the target buyer group by staging it – the real estate agent decided to advise her client to stage the property.

At the first visit to the property Birgit Anich Staging & Interiors immediately knew what needed to be done and the client agreed to most of the proposed investments of their vacant property – we made some home improvements and used the most advanced and successful staging techniques of Target Staging and Lifestyle Marketing:

Home Improvement Investments (paint, toilet replacement, lighting replacement, floors refinishing, new ceiling in one room, some repair): $6,000

Staging Investment (rental of furniture & décor for Living Room, Dining Room, Master Bedroom and Staging Services) $4,500

Total Investment: $10,500 …. 2.7% of the listing price

After completion of staging, the house sold within 2 days at full asking price.

By not using price as the single marketing strategy to sell this property, the real estate agent was able to sell the property without any further price reduction. This is great!

But what would the scenario have been if the property was staged BEFORE putting the house on the market? The house would have been 153 days less time on the market = 5.1 months less time of ongoing costs:

Mortgage: $1300/month

Carrying costs (taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance cost): $1000/month

Total monthly fixed costs saved: $2300/month

Months less on the market if staged before: 5 months Saved cost because of faster sale: $2300 * 5 months = $11,500

As you can see, staging did not cost them anything.

Remember, we spoke about that staged homes sell on an average at a 6-10% higher price. If the house were staged before putting it on the market, it is likely that the house would have sold at the original price of $410,000 (or closer to it), which is an additional $21,000

Total Return on Investment, if staged BEFORE listing, would have been:

Saved cost because of faster sale: $11,500

Sale at top price: $21,000

Total gain: $32,500

Staging Investment: ($10,500)

Profit Made from Staging: $22,000

Return on Investment: 209%

This real life example shows how staging helps to MAKE money – it does not cost anything. After reading this, what does cost more – to stage or not to stage? I hope you have come to the conclusion that it only costs NOT to stage. Not to stage costs money, time, and energy.

We realize that a full staging might not be for everyone, as this is an upfront out of pocket expense and many people might not be in the financial position for various reasons to make such investment.

I recommend though to at least invest in a home staging consultation from a qualified Home Staging Professional. You will be surprised what a difference this powerful information will make in your home sale, if you implement it.

By staging BEFORE listing the Home Sellers can move on with their normal lives faster and with more money in their pockets. When selling properties faster and closer to the Home Seller’s price expectations, Real Estate Agents will receive more referrals and can quicker devote their energy and time to their next listing.

Before & After photos for the property in our example: