When you decide to sell your home, for whatever reason, whether you are relocating for business reasons, have out grown your home or are downsizing, it is a complicated and sometimes stressful process. In todays housing market it is even more complicated. You are competing with numerous houses on the market including new and resale homes. To compete you must carefully choose your marketing team, yes, marketing team. The ideal way to sell your home is to have your home professionally staged, professionally photograhed and listed by a professional realtor. Lets look at each one of these steps.
The first step is to have your home professionally staged. Home Staging takes your home to a new level. The way you live in your home on a day to day basis and the way you want to present your home to potential buyers is not the same thing. Once you decide to sell your home it becomes a product for sale. Having a professional stager help you see your home with a fresh eye can make a huge impact on the product for sale, your home.
There are several ways a professional stager can help you prepare your home for sale. The first is a consultation, which consists of a walkthrough of your home. Each room is carefully analyzed and recomedations are made by the stager for you to perform before your home is photographed by a professional photographer. Second, you can have the stager perform the staging process for you. This consists of packing up unneeded items, arranging your furniture to fit the scale and flow of the room and scaling back on furnishings, accessories and personal items. Your goal is to showcase your home and it's charm not your home furnishings and decor which may not suit potential buyers and will be moved to your new home. Everyone has diffent taste and you want to appeal to as many potential buyers as possible, you may not get a second chance. Third, you can do a combination of both where you perform some of the work and the stager performs some of the work. Depending on your time frame and budget the third option may be the best fit.
The next step is to hire a professional photographer to photograph your home after it has been staged both inside and out. These photographs are critical for you MLS listing on the internet. The National Association of Realtors states that over 80% of potential home buyers search the internet for homes and decide which home they would like to see in person. If the photographs do not representing your home in a postive manner buyers may not choose to view your home. Professional photgraphers can be recomended by home stagers, realtors and other real estate professionals.
The third step is to hire a professional realtor. You want to find a realtor who will market your home to the best of their ability and who realizes the importance of the marketing team. I recently worked with a *realtor who follwed these three steps and the house was under contract in 18 days. This particular Doylestown, PA realtor provides both the staging consultation and the photogapher as part of her standard services. In other words, she pays for the services. Even if the realtor you select does not provide these services you should discuss the benefits of the marketing team with your realtor and, and if necessary, seek out a professional stager and photographer yourself . It will save you time and money.
If you follow these three steps it will make the sale of your home less stressful and help you compete in the housing market.
Beth Baker BethBakerInteriors.com Stager
Bob Faulkner FaulknerEnterprises.com Photographer
*Kathy Todd TradeMarkSells.com Realtor
;)
;)
