The Importance of Staging a Home

Staging your home is the easiest way to sell your home! It ensures the buyers see the house in a very bright light and can help illustrate what a property can offer without requiring a complete makeover.

Buyers are encouraged to look at the "bones" of the house more than the interior aesthetic --> clutter, outdated, furniture, and loads of personal items can be discouraging to potential buyers.

Buyers know what they want in an ideal home before they ever get started on a search. Staging makes it easier for buyers to recognize when a house meets, expectations, a lack in staging can make the imagination harder for buyers. It makes it easier to see the house as a future home. It focuses on the potential, not the present.

Staging made buyers more likely to go for a showing at a home they saw listed online.

Though you can't predict everyone's style, staging gives a broad appeal and more likely to be attractive to potential buyers.

Use this as an opportunity to prioritize key spaces. Buyers note that seeing staged rooms is important to be able to see how things fit.

It increases offer prices; offerings increase 1%- 5% when it's a staged home.
Decreases the days on the market, this is because of all that has been explained above. Buyers envision how they house will be when it's their own homes, so they put in offers when they see it.

Median price for staging a house is $400, which can be recouped if it leads to an increase in home value. Many sellers agents take on the task (cost) of staging themselves.

Staging Tasks:
- De-cluttering: opens space up and makes it look bigger and more appealing. Box up everything that isn't a day-to-day necessity.
-De-personalizing: create a blank canvas for buyers to see themselves in the house. Store away away family photos, and any other overtly personal items- even toothbrushes in the bathroom.
-Deep Cleaning: be done prior to listing home. Goes hand-in-hand with de-cluttering and giving a positive impression. Do it yourself or pay someone professionally to do it so it's done correctly.
-Small Repairs: Big repairs can be settled in post-inspection negotiations, but small repairs should be done before staging (wall repairs, new paint, etc.).
-Go Neutral: Bright colors and distinct decorating style needs to be hidden. Go neutral with paints, carpets, décor, etc.

The amount of staging depends on the house, it's condition, and the current market. A sellers-market may give more lee-way in terms of appealing to buyers. In a buyers-market, staging is more crucial since you need all the advantages you can take.