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6 Reasons to Stage Your Home Before Selling

By
Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty WA# 12940

Staging Your House for Sale

One of the first things you should do before putting your house on the market is prepare your house for sale. You will want to show your house off in its best light to maximize your earning potential. Tour your house with the eye of a buyer - what works, what doesn't work.

Read the following article on staging your home then click on the links below the article for additional professional home selling advice.

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6 Reasons to Stage Your Home Before Selling

by Brandon Cornett

Why should I bother staging my home? What do I get back for all the time and effort I put in? This is one of the most common home staging questions among sellers, especially those who are selling in a seller's market.

Here's the bottom line: Staging your home can benefit you regardless of what type of real estate market you are in.

In a buyer's market, you will need every advantage you can get in order to sell your home for a decent sale price, so it's extra important to stage your home effectively. But even in a seller's market staging can help you achieve a quick sale for the maximum sale price.

So no matter what kind of real estate market you are in, it's always wise to stage your home for the market.

Here are some of the primary benefits you will get out of it:

Home Staging Benefits

  • Forces you to organize and de-clutter. Clearing away shelves, closets and cabinets is a big part of the home staging process. It also helps with moving, because you'll have to pack things away at some point anyway. So when you stage your home, you will also get a head start on packing to move.
  • Forces you to think like a buyer. When you set out to stage your home for the market, you will be looking at the home as if you were a buyer. Adopting this perspective early on will help you in many ways when preparing your home for the market.
  • Increases likelihood of a sale. When selling your home, you must do everything within your power to increase your chances of selling -- and I mean everything. Professional home staging techniques can give you an extra edge in selling the home quickly.
  • Reduces the home's time on market. When you put in the extra effort to stage your home effectively, you will move closer to a quick sale. Anyone who has sold a home before can attest to the fact that the least time the home is on the market, the better. This is especially important if you will be paying two mortgages until the home sells (as is the case when you buy a new home before selling the old one).
  • Helps justify the asking price. If you are in a seller's market and you price your home correctly, you probably won't have to haggle over the asking price. But in a market that leans toward the buyer, you need everything in your favor to justify the asking price. Proper home staging can help you justify the asking price by positioning the home more favorably in the buyer's mind.
  • Staging can be fun! It may sound like all work and no play at first. Granted, you will certainly be putting some elbow grease into the process. But staging a home can be a creative process as well, and many people find they enjoy it once they've begun.

With so many benefits to staging a home, the question isn't why should you stage your home. The question is why wouldn't you?

* Copyright 2008, Brandon Cornett.

About the Author: Brandon Cornett publishes a number of educational websites for consumers. He is the creator of this real estate information website as well as the Home Buying Institute. 

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LINKS & RESOURCES:

Myths About Selling Your Tacoma Real Estate Home in a Slow Market

Free Highest Price Analysis - Get your home's value (CMA)

Staging Your Home for Sale

Staging Your Home for Sale Video

De-clutter Your Tacoma Real Estate Home

Improvements That Pay

FREE Home Seller Resources

 

The Trey Affolter Team always welcomes comments and is available to answer questions about Tacoma Real Estate and the surrounding cities within Pierce County Real Estate, South King County Real Estate, and North Thurston County Real Estate

253-222-6000

http://www.TreySellsHouses.com

Posted by

Trey Affolter

Realtor * Broker

Keller Williams Realty

253-881-4109  office

treysellshouses@live.com

 

Regina P. Brown
MBA Broker Consultants - Carlsbad, CA
M.B.A., Broker, Instructor

Trey, there is a good reason why new home developers pay big bucks to professionals stagers -- it's because staging is proven to increase home values and increase sales.  Bottom line.

Dec 21, 2008 03:46 PM
Janice Roosevelt
Keller Williams Brandywine Valley - West Chester, PA
OICP ABR, ePRO,Ecobroker

Fabulous post, good reminders. I recommend to sellers that they visit new constructio sites to see what potential buyers are viewing.

Dec 28, 2008 10:56 PM
Retired Notworking
Tallahassee, FL

I'm a believer in staging a home and have seen it work wonders many times.

Dec 29, 2008 10:04 PM
Shelley Marshall
First Realty - Crossville, TN
(931) 200-2745, Tennessee

Great post!  A house becomes a home once it is staged! 

Jan 03, 2009 10:51 AM
Charlene Storozuk
Dezigner Digz - Burlington, ON
Home Stager - Burlington Ontario

Great advice Trey.  So glad to see that you're a believer in staging.  It makes such a huge difference!

Jan 07, 2009 07:25 AM
BILL CHERRY
Bill Cherry, Realtor - Dallas, TX
Broker & Wealth Coach

I feel VERY strongly about the power of staging!  Frankly, somehow it ought to take its place as a part of EVERY listing.

You did a good job with this one.  But now it's time for those who fancy themselves as stagers to quantify their trade...fix it where those who are just calling themselves stagers are found out.

The ones I use here in Dallas -- there are two -- know their stuff and the results prove it.  But I've been in unsold homes and told the owner that the home needs staging to which the reply is, "It has been staged!  The last agent recommended Sally XYZ and we spent $XXX getting it done."

And I think to myself, "I'll be it was more likely to have sold the way it was before Sally got here.  Sally has no talent whatsoever."

For those who are reading Trey's blog, Brandon's piece and the comments, please remember that staging is NOT interior design.  It is marketing on the same idea and scale as dressing a window at Neiman-Marcus.

Jan 12, 2009 11:15 PM
Michelle Finnamore
Toronto GTA, Alliston, Newmarket - Vaughan, ON
Preparing your property for sale

So true Bill. I speak with the design students at the local College and the first thing I stress with them is that Staging is not design. It is marketing a property for sale. If they are thinking of having a Staging component to their new business, they must really learn the difference between these two ideas.

Jan 18, 2009 04:50 AM
Rob and Camille Di Maio
San Antonio Real Estate - Keller Williams Legacy - San Antonio, TX

Staging is essential.  We provide a professional staging consultation for all of our sellers.

Feb 01, 2009 12:10 AM