[Disclaimer = For some reason, the number of people searching for House for Sell is 3 x higher than House for Sale. Since this challenge is about traffic, it seemed only sensible to use the more popular keyword.]
Here, in New Jersey, buyers are still looking for a formal living room. They may not use it very often, but they want it in a house they are going to OWN. In fact, a "good" living room is one of the more important differentiating features when evaluating which home they prefer. Therefore it made sense to start my 7-part series with a look at staging the Living Room.
Once you have cleaned out the hearth, put away all of your personal items like photos, certificates, trophies and award-type gifts, here are some additional key things to remember about living rooms -
- Clean the windows, and only cover them up with a lush elegant treatment if your view is gravely unappealing.
- Display your best stuff - it lends a formal yet festive spirit
- Make sure you have good pathways THROUGH this room (it's usually the first on the tour, and it's imortant not to get stuck backing up in the very beginning!)
- This is an ADULT room. (no toys, not for children and most definitely NOT for pets!)
- Use color carefully - to lead the eye left and right - from window to window and then the mantel (or whatever focal point it is that you've identified)
Let me show you some examples of successfully staged living rooms in New Jersey. There are 4 varieties of home staging services, Owner Occupied where you use the homeowner's stuff, Owner Occupied where you bring in rental furniture, Vacant Homes and Vignettes. I no longer believe there's any benefit to vignette staging and so will not be including any examples of it in this series.
Owner Occupied Home ~ Using Their Own Furniture
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AFTER
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For many older homes, the living room is the largest room on the main floor. It might seem ridiculous to keep the best, warmest and nicest space for just formal occasions. Here, the family has understably used it as a comfy, chaotic playroom!
This makes total sense for the family living there. But it does nothing to help the resale value ~ in fact, had the house gone to market like this, the message buyers would have received is ~
- There's no Family Room in this house (there were 2 actually)
- There's no formal living room (this IS the formal living room)
- It's too small.
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Now, the formal living room is restored.
- All of the toys have been dispersed between the Sun Room, the Den, the downstairs playroom and the upstairs bedrooms.
- The yellow sofa was brought back up from the downstairs playroom, and some wedding presents were finally unpacked and displayed on the shelves.
- That fabulous rug was in an upstairs guest room!!
Buyers can now see that
- Formal, adult living - really entertaining space, exists in abundance in this, the grandest room in the house,
- the length of the room is emphasized, and
- a focal point has been highlighted ~ the beautiful brick hearth with gleaming wood mantel!
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Owner Occupied Home ~ Using Rental Furniture
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AFTER
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Two teachers, with all their reading, papers, curriculum materials x 2... PLUS a scrumptious little baby girl!
- There's no Family Room in this house (there was a small one in the back, and a basement that could have been finished)
- There's no way to entertain (not true, there was a nice formal dining room through the archway)
- This looks like a studio apartment.
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Now, a casual but comfy living room has been created.
- SOME toys remain, but tucked away. The rest are in the Den, the little girl's bedroom and, frankly, storage!
- Yes, this really is the same room!
Buyers can now see that
- The biggest, brightest room on the first floor has lots of possibilities for use
- the length, and brightness of the room is emphasized, and
- two focal points have been highlighted ~ the brick hearth and a sunny seating area over by the windows!
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Vacant House ~ Using Rental Furniture
BEFORE
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AFTER
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Empty rooms give a buyer not a lot to look at, beyond the molding, the floor, the windows....
With no frame of reference, they have no idea
- how this space could work with their furniture; what will fit where?
- how this space might work for their family
- Doors start to look huge, and walls small
(The after picture is taken from a different angle because, as you can see in the before, the header beam made it impossible for my flash to adjust and get the furniture highlighted properly.)
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Now, a r-e-a-l living room has been created.
- Architectural features are highlighted with yummy, huge green ceramic pots with Art Deco motifs (I couldn't believe how perfect they were for this style of home!)
- The rental company let me be the first one with a new, fabulously spiffy, elegant sofa suite
Buyers can now see that
- Beautiful, lush, elegant entertaining space
- Exquisite craftsmanship
- a true one-of-a-kind new build for THE discriminating buyer
And indeed a guy sold a $4 million home to buy this one for $2.3. What a spectacular, graceful, sensual home!!
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~ Juliet Johnson ~ has been home staging NJ in the luxury real estate niche (with the predominant home value of $1 - 3 million) for the last 7 years. Juliet is taking the month of August to brush up her internet marketing skills by participating in Ed Dale's 30 Day Challenge with a blog on Property Marketing.
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I'd like to invite you to connect with me on these other places:
Juliet Johnson serves Jacksonville, FL realtors, home sellers and small business with social media strategy, online visibility and product creation services, that include training if you want to do it yourself.
"If your social media activity isn't a revenue generator for you, you're doing it wrong."
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Juliet...great examples and I really like how you set-up this blog post. Easy to read and understand. You're House for Sell disclaimer is very interesting!