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Does my home need to be staged before selling?

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Home Stager with Images staged with flair

 

Does my home need to be staged before selling?                                

Does your home need to be staged before selling, is like asking yourself do you want to get the best price for your home and do you want to sell as quickly as possible? In my mind I am convinced that UNLESS you have your home staged before selling, you will not sell quickly or for the best price!!

For occupied homes, with the help of their Realtor, most sellers have to gage their local market and get to know other homes for sale in their neighborhood. Then you can decide depending on your budget how much money you need to put into your home to make it market ready. This does not need to big money invested, start from the outside curb appeal, cleaning gardens, shrubs, topping up with new mulch, to the inside of your home, painting in warm neutral colors, decluttering, repairing any areas of the house that shows damage. Buyers  will see any areas that are unkempt as a sign that the home is not well cared for. Images Staged with Flair will address those issues for you.

There is a mix idea of whether a vacant home should be staged before selling. About ten years ago my husband and I  were looking for a builder in the Niagara/St.Catharines area to build our home, on a lot we had already purchased. We went to a few model homes that were not staged and were vacant. I could not believe that all we saw was the really bad workmanship of these builders. We could not get past the fact that if we could see these flaws in front of our eyes what was lurking behind the walls that would become problematic after we built? We eventually found our builder that had a model home STAGED, we hired him and voila' we were both sold!!  If the home is in pristine condition then I guess you could list vacant, but remember that with STAGING,we are conveying a lifestyle, an emotion, to the potential buyer viewing that home, and sometimes a vacant home can seem cold and vast. Most traffic is received in the first few showings, so you may miss an opportunity ifthe home is  not staged before listing.

Hiring a professional staging company like Images Staged with Flair,  will cost you money, statistics Home Gain 2009  show that the investment in staging your vacant or occupied home will return back to you in a higher sold price.  So if you are a Realtor, Homeowner or even a Home Builder selling a home.... I believe that your home will sell BECAUSE of the staging...... So ask yourself this question.... Can you afford not to STAGE your home!!

Staging master bedroom/vacant   Staging master bedroom/vacant

 

 

Anna Topolinsky

Images Staged with Flair

66 Facer Street

St.Catharines, Ontario

905-980-4962

 

                                           

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 Images  Staged with Flair

 Stage your home!   Sell your home! 

Anna Topolinsky

905-980-4962

anna@imagesstagedwithflair.ca

 www.imagesstagedwithflair.ca

 

 

 

 

 

Gayle Rich-Boxman Fishhawk Lake Real Estate
John L Scott Market Center - Birkenfeld, OR
"Your Local Expert!" 503-739-3843

Sadly, I rarely get asked that question by a seller...more often it's that they want to sell it furnished (I sell/list in a vacation lake community) and that opens up a whole NEW CONVERSATION.

It's a difficult subject to broach, especially when they have powder blue carpet, an old kitchen, and an ugly house plan...where do you START??  And they want to price it too high, they came up with the original house plans on a cocktail napkin AND they have an extra lot to just "mix it up".

This really happened!  They were one of my first listings FOUR YEARS AGO and they're STILL on the market, have utilized three realtors (four if you include me twice!) and still NOTHING. Yuck.

I even had a professional stager come in but he was "too expensive" and they rented a few pieces of furniture from some rental place....it was better than nothing, but not much.

Mar 15, 2011 05:13 PM
anna topolinsky
Images staged with flair - Saint Catharines, ON

Gayle, I have seen many homes listed on mls that don't show well, and that is a shame because with some education to clients we can educate them in the benefits of staging. There are a few Realtors that I have met that will not even list a home unless the homeowner agrees to have a consultation,and implements the recommendations from the stager. It is difficult to walk away from a sale but as in the example you gave us ( very extreme clients) there was 4 Realtors that spent money and time trying to sell a home that was way over priced and not staged properly.  My goal is to educate as many people as possible, in teaching them the benefits of staging before listing.

Mar 15, 2011 05:34 PM
Chris Alston
Chris Alston (Keller Williams Realty, Silicon Valley, California) - Campbell, CA
Silicon Valley, California

It makes you wonder who would rather sell a box then a room with a feeling...

Mar 15, 2011 05:47 PM
Janet Jones
Just Your Style Interiors, LLC - Kihei, HI
Home Staging, Interior Redesign Kihei, Maui, Hawaii

Hi Anna--I also think that most buyers cannot figure out how to put furniture in rooms or how much furniture fits into rooms.  Staging resolves those issues for them, so they leave the property with a good feeling instead of a lot of questions. 

Mar 16, 2011 08:25 AM
Wendy Tomm
Beyond the Walls - East St Paul, MB
CCSP, RESA-PRO, BBB - Wpg Realtors

Hi Anna. Nice post and as a professional home stager vacant definately need to be staged for all the reasons you mentioned.  I am a big believer in educating the Realtors and the public as most vendors/builders/buyers etc. need some of our professional staging advice.

Aug 21, 2011 07:24 AM