Home Staging: A Technique to Sell Your Home

The real estate business has found in home staging an ally to speed up the sale of properties. The method focuses on arranging, decorating and leaving the residence with the best possible appearance, with the purpose of capturing the interest of potential buyers.

Home staging consists of a clean house, furnished and decorated without excesses, rather than a space that conveys disorder. It’s pleasing to the eye and radiates better energy. As you can imagine by the name, it’s a “staging” that attracts attention and has a great influence on the final purchase decision.

The home showing technique is constantly being updated as more and more ideas are being applied by real estate agents for successful staging. So, let’s go deeper into the subject.

What is “home staging” all about, and what is its impact on the real estate market?

The European Institute of Business Studies explains real estate “staging” as a marketing strategy to sell in less time and at the best price. So, the sense of the arrangement is that the future buyer contemplates all the potentialities of the house. To achieve this impact, agents don’t invest in brand-new furniture, but simulate what living in the home would look like with practical decor that’s sometimes even cardboard.

It was American the real estate manager Barb Schwarz who created the home staging concept, and little by little the current moved all over the world. It doesn’tinvolve profound changes. Instead, it shows the best appearance of the house with what is available in it and one or two extra details.

Its footprint in the real estate sector is reviewed in a study published by Deco Academy, which stated that 83% of the clients of different real estate agencies admitted an effect thanks to the technique. On the other hand, 17% of the property sellers interviewed affirmed that staging increased the value per dollar of the property from 6% to 10%.

The benefits of home staging

The tactic is also applicable in offices, stores, and new or second-hand homes. The objective is always the same; what varies is the budget for the staging.

In addition, it offers the advantages listed below:

• It speeds up the transaction.
• It reduces the points to negotiate.
• Home staging increases the price of the property.
• There’s no need to spend on significant renovations.
• It increases the number of visits due to purchase interest.

Recommended techniques to carry out a successful home staging

The primordial thing for the success of the staging is to count on the services of an expert in the matter. Specialized agents create a proposal that, apart from setting the house in a cozy tone, promotes the offer in networks, websites, newspapers, and other information media.

From there on, what follows is to resort to knowledge in decoration, search for furniture when the house is empty, and application of philosophies such as the Feng shui, for example. We’ll reveal other specific activities that are often used:

Order and a clear space

As Architectural Digest magazine points out, physical order transmits peace, comfort, and well-being; it also has an impact on thoughts and feelings. This theory is also true of the ambiance with the intention of selling, as it recommends getting rid of the accumulation of things so that the energy flows.

Professionals in the strategy make anything that brings the sensation of saturation “disappear.” They often prefer to clear and use as few objects as possible.

When you clear an area of the house you contribute to a better appreciation of proportions and amplitude. Based on the space, you distribute the furniture and, if necessary, reduce the number of them.

A deep cleaning

Deep cleaning is essential: you should never show your house without proper cleaning. The more impeccable the place looks, the more visitors will perceive it as welcoming. After all, who doesn’t want to live in a nice place?

Necessary repairs

If there are any pending repairs, it’s time to tackle them.

Paint your walls and balconies; make repairs to details on doors, windows, and drawers; make sure carpets and curtains are not unraveled. And, take care of any domestic repairs that the property requires.

Generally, most buyers are looking for homes that they can move into without too much work. In conclusion, less renovation translates into greater chances of selling.

Don’t personalize the space

Home staging does not go hand in hand with personalization. The right thing to do is not to show any  personal objects of the owners in the house, such as photographs, pictures or ornaments.

The idea is that the new owners imagine themselves living in the place, without having things around that allude to another family. For this purpose, you can use a neutral but striking decoration.

Inexpensive but practical furniture

There’s no need to spend on luxurious and expensive furniture. Just as there are options in cardboard, it is also feasible to locate furniture for rent, just for the purpose of real estate staging so that the potential buyer gets an idea of how it will be inside your new home.

Nothing missing: What you should avoid in home staging

The Colombian Institute of Higher Studies of Incolda has shared an important tip for home staging that consists of leaving aside the savings mentality for a good staging,

We repeat: you should not buy expensive things, but neither should you leave a room empty because you don’t want to spend any extra money. You should always stage the spaces, because the buyer will better understand the size in relation to your decorating style.

Lastly, if you surround yourself with a team that knows the technique, you increase the chances of selling in less time. So, are you going to try this method?