What is that - home staging?
It is the Realtor's job to educate their clients on home staging. Home Staging is a new industry that has emerged in residential real estate. It is the art of preparing a home for sale. Home Stagers are invaluable to sellers in providing guidance and needed information during the selling process. Home Stagers know what it will take for their home to meet or exceed a buyer's expectations.
I'm moving, why would I want to expend time and money on this place?
Why offer a home "as is" instead of "the best it can be". Even used cars are detailed before they are brought to the used car lot for sale. It only makes good sense to invest the most care in the house to be sold for the highest possible price. When a homeowner does not stage, they are cheating themselves and may be losing money in the process. Homeowners should not be "penny wise and pound foolish".
I can't afford home staging.
Often times, a home owner can't afford not to stage. Some people feel the cost of home staging is something only "rich" people can afford. The cost of home staging is always going to be proportionate to the property being sold. The other factors to be taken into account are the condition of the home and the amount of work the homeowner is willing to do themselves. Homeowners should not be misled into thinking they will have to spend exorbitant amounts to have their homes staged. Many people equate the cost of Home Staging with the cost of having an interior decorator "decorate" their home. This is not the case at all. Home Staging is the opposite of "decorating". Home Staging is about making money not spending money.
What is wrong with my house anyway that it has to be staged?
The way we live in our homes and the way we sell our homes are two different things. A trained Home Stager will show the home owner what is needed to optimize the home to compete in the neighborhood to sell. Sellers have to understand their homes are now "houses" that are a "commodity" to be sold. That "lived" in look is not what will attract top dollar.
We have been living here for years and it was good enough for us.
Often times a homeowner has lived in their home so long they are unable to see what a potential buyer will see. A Home Stager will provide the objective set of eyes needed to see the home as the commodity that will appeal to potential buyers. The value of the home needs to equal or exceed expectations of today's buyers. The buyers of today are a different breed than buyers in the past. Today's buyers need to have the work done for them. Nobody has time to consider buying a home that needs small updates or painting. A home stager makes this task easy by providing a step by step plan to accomplish the staging process.
Our neighbors didn't stage their home before putting it on the market.
Odds are, their Realtor did not have a Home Stager as part of their team. What a shame. Realtors who work with a Home Stager as part of their team are seen as more credible and professional as well as having more to offer to their clients.
Don't vacant homes show better than furnished homes?
The answer is a resounding no. With today's new open floor plans, the dining room is often defined with a light fixture. It is virtually impossible for sellers to understand the scale and proportion of a room with no frame of reference. Also, a potential buyer will have a tendency to focus on every little "flaw" when the eye has no furnishings or accessories to rest on.
I watch HGTV - I can stage my home myself.
We've all seen it -- a home that has been what I call "faux staged". It just falls flat. Knowing what to do to stage a home and actually doing it are two different things. Home Stagers generally follow several key principals but creativity, skill and training are the keys to a successful home staging job.
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