The Professional Stagers of Active Rain have been posed the question - Why and When do you stage your house? There are many technical answers I could give here and do an adequate job of it, but I want you the reader to think past the nuts and bolts of the staging process and view it from a more basic level.
Anyone who has bought or sold their first place can attest to the fact that it is so much more than an impersonal business transaction. Home buying decisions are not made based on numbers on a piece of paper, or MLS listing, they are made in the heart. Your property has to be able to connect with buyers on this level to initiate an offer. Staging is your most powerful tool in opening all avenues to this connection.
Avenue #1- Your Internet connection. I know this is a very odd place to start as the internet is the most impersonal thing on the planet, but we live in a very visual, tech oriented and time conscious society. 80% of buyers are prescreening their listings online. If they don't like what they see in your online photos, they move on to the next listing. Staging can assist you in preparing your home so that your photos grab a buyers attention and make them want to see more. Ask any Realtor and they will tell you that the days of spending all weekend driving buyers from house to house of the agents choosing are over. Buyers don't want to spend that much time looking at houses. They have their own list and it is very short. You have a small window of opportunity to win them over.
Avenue #2 - The Style Connection. An outdated house is the hardest house to sell. The general public spends a lot of time watching HGTV. They are coming to expect that sellers will be regularly updating decor and fixtures - if not on a regular basis, then at least at the point of sale. When they see anything less, it is a disappointment to say the least. If your house is not a WOW, it is a WHOA and that is a fatal difference. A professional stager can assist you in making style changes that will boost the style appeal of your home and get you the most bang for your buck. It may seem counter intuitive to spend money on a house you will not be living in, but from the buyers perspective updating is work and you can't sell work. Well, you can, but not for top dollar.
Avenue #3 -A Personal Connection. Even with a great internet presentation and effectively updated aesthetics, buyers still need to have emotional
ties to a house to move them to buy it. If that connection isn't made, everything stops here. The best way to make it happen is for the seller to actually disconnect with the house and allow it to be presented as 'anyone's house' and not their own. The more specific your home has been made to suit you, the less it will suit the general public. A stager can guide you in making that separation between 'home' and 'house' so that buyers are able to mentally move in and imagine making it their own.
Staging is your most effective marketing tool when selling your home and increases the effectiveness of all other marketing thereafter. It is without a doubt the first step you should take when starting down the path to sell your house. However, as I stated above, you have to make an emotional disconnect of your own to allow a buyer to feel an emotional investment. Don't think you can step back and make the necessary decisions? A home stager can help you make them.
So, why do you stage? Because you really want to sell your house.
When do you stage? As soon as you are truly ready to let it go.
;)
Links;)
Tags (Tag Cloud);)
Archives
Kimberly, what you have written is all too true. I hope all sellers will get a chance to read it and I think you should enter this blog into the contest. Your first point about the Internet made me stop and think and you're right. I've looked at a lot of MLS listings and the ones with poor pictures just make me cringe. They are losing potential buyers. Thanks for sharing. Betty