By Donna Dazzo of Village Confidential
Whether it’s your home for sale or your client’s home for sale, not every seller is convinced right off the bat that home staging is necessary to get it sold.
In a previous blog, I addressed three common objections from both real estate agents and home sellers to staging a home when it's for sale.
So if you find yourself or your clients asking the following questions or stating these objections, carefully consider these answers before you make that final decision not to stage.
But, why can’t the real estate agent or homeowner figure out what needs to be done to stage the home and make it look better?
The real estate agent should be spending his or her time doing what he or she does best – marketing and showing the home to potential buyers and renters. Wouldn’t a homeowner rather know the real estate agent is doing this instead of spending hours rearranging furniture, shopping for accessories, and managing repairmen?
Owners can’t stage their own homes because they’ve stopped seeing all of its flaws. Most homeowners don’t have the “buyer’s eyes” that a professional home stager will when walking through the home. The owners have gotten used to walking past the overgrown bushes in the front yard blocking all of the light from coming into the windows. The dated wallpaper and lighting fixtures have been in the bathroom so long that they seem to be part of the family. And homeowners may already be overwhelmed enough with the stress of finding a new home and moving that they won’t have the time or energy to focus on making the home look appealing.
But, similar homes in the neighborhood and/or building sold without staging.
Do you know if they sold at asking price? Perhaps the owners had to sell for less than what they were asking for because their house looked less than desirable. Do you know how long the home was on the market? Why take that risk? Staging works. According to the Real Estate Staging Association's 2009 study, both occupied and vacant homes that were on the market before they were staged spent 78% less time on the market after they were staged.
But, the home has already been decluttered and cleaned. That should be enough.
That’s great that the homeowner has already gone ahead and decluttered and cleaned. However, staging is much more than that. A professional home stager can see things with a buyer's eyes. Staging highlights the best features of a home and downplays the negative features. Staging ensures that the home appeals to the broadest range of buyers. It’s a product to be marketed, and a professional home stager will help you market it to its highest potential.
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