When you’re selling a house, one of the things you need to consider is how your home looks and how quickly it can sell without compromising your desired price.
Is it presentable enough to impress potential buyers? Will the way it looks now be able to showcase its best assets? With its current appearance, how else can you boost its appeal?
This is where home staging comes in. As its name suggests, staging is a way to make your house look ready and at its potential best for buyers. But how do you go about doing this in a manner that’s both efficient and effective? What elements do you need to consider? Can you enlist the help of a professional to get this done? We’ve got you covered in this article.
What Is Home Staging?
Home staging entails decorating your property in a way that shows off its best assets, in photos, videos, and in person. Not all sellers employ this method when they sell their homes, but those who do reap the benefits.
Based on the 2017 report by the National Association of Realtors Research Department, 49% of buyers’ agents noted that staging had an impact on how potential buyers view a home. According to 77%, home staging helped potential buyers see the property as their future home. About 21% remarked that home staging could help increase a home’s value by up to 10%. Meanwhile, 39% said that it helped with faster market turnover.
How Do You Begin Staging a Home to Sell?
Home staging is different for every homeowner. Some opt for simpler options like rearranging furniture or adding elements that complement the home’s overall style. Other staging methods include changing your color palette and even adding ornamental pieces.
Before staging a home to sell, you need to understand why you’re doing it in the first place. Aside from benefitting sellers, staging can also help buyers choose a property more efficiently.
The methods you can use for staging vary greatly. Here are a few tips you can follow:
- Clean your outdoor area to make it look more inviting.
There’s such a thing as curb appeal. Before even getting inside your house, your frontage is the first thing that potential buyers see. Having a well-maintained garden or a clean driveway can act as an invitation to onlookers.
- Declutter to free up needed space.
Remove all the clutter and make your home look more spacious. One of the secrets to staging is showing off clean surfaces and storage areas to potential buyers. When you have buyers in your house, expect that they may look inside drawers or open closet doors.
You might have to resort to offsite storage if you have a lot of things. Minimal to no clutter helps buyers visualize the space better. Think of it as something like a blank canvas. You can always retain elements you think may add to your home’s appeal.
- Rearrange your furniture.
Re-organizing your furniture can make some dramatic changes to a room. A specific arrangement can promote better traffic, while another can make a space look more conducive for conversations.
- Begin staging the important rooms first.
Staging may cost money for some. You may need to add some decorative accents or furniture, or you may need to rent storage for all your other personal belongings. If you’re on a tight budget, you can opt to prioritize staging very important rooms first, like the living room, master bedroom, and kitchen.
- Place accents that invite potential buyers to explore the rest of the house.
When you’re staging a house, you want the buyers to see every inch of the space. You want to showcase the beauty and the potential of your home as their new living space. This is why it helps to place accents that draw their eye to a specific area. It catches their attention and prods them to explore the space further.
- Eliminate any nasty odors.
If you have pets, it’s a good idea to thoroughly clean your space to remove any unwanted odors and shedding. This means deep cleaning your rugs and carpets and washing the surfaces that they usually come in contact with.
Working with a Real Estate Professional for Staging
When staging a home to sell, it’s best to work with a professional stager who can transform your space into something marketable. Are you thinking of putting your property on the market? Concerned that it doesn’t look presentable enough the way it is now?
Get in touch with seasoned real estate agent and South Florida’s leading realtor, Tammy Hernandez. Tammy is a professional who has extensive experience in the real estate industry. She’ll be able to determine the level of staging your home needs for it to make a lasting impression and meet buyer expectations.