As a professional stager, I found that home sellers were well educated on what home staging is suppose to do. While it does help you to sell your home, don’t think of home staging is a “miracle cure”. It’s not. I don’t mean to burst your bubble, but properly staging a home is hard work - only to be followed by the home sellers commitment to not only keep up the staged atmosphere, but to live in it, as well.
Whether staging your home yourself or hiring the services of a professional, when done properly - the benefits far outweigh the time and labor invested in setting the stage for selling your home.
3 reasons to stage your home:
Recognition - Have you heard that it’s a buyers’ market? Perhaps you’ve heard that there is an extensive inventory available to buyers for their choosing? With this overload of homes, staging greatly improves your properties chances of being remembered. Think of it as key word association of the mind. Enhance the benefits of your home - great structure, architectural niches, upgraded baths, updated flooring - Proper staging will enhance the feature and draw the buyer’s eye to it.
Another great benefit? What chance does your home have if your photos (both in print and on the internet) look less than fabulous? Consider the mere statistic that your home may be 1 in 25 or 1 in 75 that each potential buyer is inspecting. Honestly - what makes your house stand out from the rest?
The Edge - Utilize your time wisely prior to actively marketing your house. Take care of the things that could of/should of/would of been done in days gone by. Don’t know where to start? Ask your family members they are sure to tell you. If in doubt, ask the neighbor across the street who’s been looking at your front yard for years. (Here’s a hint: Don’t ask if you don’t really want to know).
Competition - Instead of being concerned about how well the neighboring homes compare to your property - turn the tables and make them envious of your prime piece of real estate. Would you rather go through 100 marketing fliers or never have a showing? Even if all of the neighbors are taking the fliers - that equates to more than 100x the exposure of advertising your property. (No matter what your annual income may be - you still wouldn’t be able to afford an advertising campaign of this magnitude).
Improve the marketability of your property - instead of depending on the expertise of one (highly qualified) professional real estate agent to sell your property, consider your neighborhood as your advertising dollars at work (pro bono, no less) … Want results? Talk to your agent about a “Neighborhood Open House” and invite everyone to an exclusive showing. It wouldn’t hurt to invite the media along, too. Don’t be afraid of what they have to say - invite them!
The most talented stager can do a phenomenal job staging your home, but without marketing it’s just a mute point. Marketing is merely taking the steps to ensure those who are searching for your home are able to find it - when they want, where they want and of course, in the least painful way.
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