Are you looking to sell your house? If you are, you need to consider how to proper stage your home. Considering that buyers are making impressions from your home on whether or not to buy it almost immediately – 90% are shopping primarily by the Internet! – staging your home to produce the best effect is critical. Keep reading to find out more about staging as well as some basic steps to it.
What is the goal of staging? According to Barb Schwarz, the president of the International Association of Home Staging Professionals, it is “preparing a home for sale so the buyer can mentally move in.” The idea is to not only make the home attractive to the eye of the buyer, but also to erase signs of it being your home and present cues that make the buyer imagine it as theirs.
There are two main reasons to stage your home: time and money.
- Staging can help your home not only sell faster, but it can also make more money. Staged homes spend half the time on the market compared to non-staged homes.
- They also sell for more than 6 percent above the asking price on average! Even with the staging cost of 1-3% of the asking price, you can make money back as well as sell it faster.
- And selling it faster, by the way, isn’t just to get it done sooner – the National Association of Realtors found that the more time a home spends on the market, the further its price drops. Thus, staging is doubly beneficial in selling your home.
If we’ve finally convinced you to stage your home, you might be wondering how exactly to go about it. We’ve got some beginning tips for you on that front, too. These encompass 5 distinct categories: color, maintenance, depersonalization, furniture, and emotion.
In considering color, anticipate how it might affect the experience of a potential buyer. Opting for warm or soothing colors will create an optimal appeal for them. Lighter shades can also help the space seem larger.
With regards to maintenance, this is simply reiterating your parents’ advice to take care of your stuff. Make sure everything, especially the kitchen and bathrooms, are meticulously cleaned, and finish up any home improvement projects you might have been putting off.
If the goal of staging is to help the buyer imagine themselves in your home, than you must depersonalize it. Remove any family photos or items that may be unusual for the typical buyer. You don’t want anything to be around that will distract the buyer from the home itself.
Minimal furniture is typically the best way to go so as to open up each space. Also, arrange furniture to highlight the focal points of each room, such as a fire place or range, depending on the room.
Finally, with what decorations you do, try to add artful details like candles or flowers that may help buyers create a positive connection with your home.
For more information on staging, read the infographic below. We wish you luck on selling your home!
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