The Importance of Staging a Home
Did you know that staged homes sell 73% faster than non-staged homes? Staging helps the buyer better visualize themselves in your home. These interesting and important tips are excerpts taken from many articles online, with my added experience of staging many properties before they were listed.
Before and after photos of a family room in Grey Oaks.
In order to sell a home quickly and for the best possible price, staging is one of the easiest (and cost effective) ways to make this happen. Most buyers search online for their new home, well before they ever reach out to a real estate professional to have them set up an appointment to see a listing in person. For this reason, the professional pictures and video are of utmost importance and should be the most crucial goal of phenomenal images for the Seller and their agent. In our fast-paced society, buyers give each photo only a few seconds of their interest and time before they decide this residence is of interest to them or not. The professional photography can only do so much with the subject matter, thus taking the time to make each room as welcoming as possible, is what will make the buyer’s decision to even make an appointment to view it.
Staging a home ensures that buyers see it in its very best light, and can help illustrate what a property can offer without requiring a complete makeover, although, many of my sellers allow me to do just that: painting, new light fixtures, new furniture and wall art, etc. In an industry where making a great first impression can make all the difference, it is important to use staging as an integral part of the selling process, because it is the buyer, and not the seller, who the residence has to appeal to. Once a seller decides to put their home on the market, it is "no longer their home,” so to speak, but should be viewed through the eyes of a potential buyer’s eyes, and how they could imagine themselves living in a particular home.
According to 83% of buyers’ agents, staging a home makes it easier for a buyer to visualize the property as a future home. Meanwhile, 38% of buyers’ agents say that staging made buyers more likely to go for a showing at a home they saw listed online.
Before and after photos of a living room in Grey Oaks.
Considering that half the battle of selling a home is just getting buyers in the door, it makes sense that staging would be a major help. While one cannot predict what everyone’s taste is going to be, a home can be staged so that it has a broader appeal and is more likely to be attractive to potential buyers.
Melinda Massie, who owns a Fort Worth home organizing firm, says that good staging lets the buyers imagine themselves in the home, shows off its good features and hides its flaws, turns weird spaces into usable spaces, creates a mood or ambiance (stagers call it “emotional” staging), and makes the home look significantly better in photos.
Does Staging Your House Really Help It Sell for More Money?
Unstaged homes typically don’t sell as quickly as those that are staged, agents say.