Nowhere is the phrase, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” more relevant than when you are showing your house to prospective buyers. Your lifetime of memories may be their clutter, or your delightful collection of antique teapots might remind them of their least favorite aunt. The simple fact is that if your home does not put its best foot forward to as many buyers as possible, it won’t sell for as much – and it won’t sell as fast.

While your real estate agent will provide valuable advice about positioning your home for sale, today, more and more Realtors® and home sellers are turning to Home Stagers to sell houses quicker and for a higher price.

Home staging is the process of preparing a property for sale by enhancing its appearance to appeal to a broader range of potential buyers. By showcasing the home in the best possible light, home staging can help you sell your home faster and often at a higher price. Here’s how home staging can benefit you:

Creates a positive first impression: A well-staged home is visually appealing and inviting, which can make a strong first impression on potential buyers as they enter the property or view it online.

Highlights the home’s strengths: Staging helps showcase your home’s best features, such as spacious rooms, natural light, and architectural details, by using appropriate furniture arrangements, lighting, and decor.

Neutralizes the space: A staged home typically uses neutral colors, simple furnishings, and minimal personal items to create a universally appealing environment. This allows potential buyers to envision themselves living in the space more easily.

Makes rooms appear larger: Home staging can make rooms appear more spacious by using appropriately sized furniture, decluttering, and optimizing the layout.

Emphasizes functionality: Staging helps demonstrate the functionality of each room, showing potential buyers how the space can be utilized efficiently.

Enhances online appeal: As most buyers begin their home search online, a well-staged home with high-quality photos can stand out from the competition, attracting more interest and increasing the likelihood of in-person showings.

Reduces time on the market: A Staged home tends to sell faster than an unstaged one, as buyers are more likely to make an offer on a property that appears move-in ready.

Increases perceived value: By presenting your home in its best condition, staging can increase the perceived value of your property, potentially leading to higher offers and a better return on investment.

Minimizes objections: Staging can address and minimize potential buyer objections by showcasing a well-maintained and visually appealing property.

Emotional connection: A well-staged home can evoke an emotional connection with potential buyers, increasing the likelihood of receiving an offer.

Home staging can be as simple as rearranging furniture or as complicated as temporarily adding new furniture, art, and accessories. It can cost as little as a few hundred dollars or as much as thousands – but the determining factor is that the amount you spend should be more than recovered with a higher sale price and a quicker sale.

What Home Stagers Can Do That You Cannot

The next chapter, “Making Your Home Look its Very Best”, details many do-it-yourself techniques to show your house in the best possible light, but part of the value of Home Staging is in what it can do that you can’t.

Consider the following:

• It is hard to be objective about your home because you are emotionally involved. A professional can determine how you can best use what you have and help if you need to add something else.
• You have been living in your house for a long time so there are many things that you don’t really “see” anymore. A fresh perspective and an eye trained in what buyers want can make a big difference.
• You have good taste, but you may not necessarily have a designer’s eye.
• You may not have the time or the patience to deal with all the details that a Home Stager will.
• You know what makes your home comfortable for you, but do you really know what sells in the local market?

So, now you know that Staging is the opposite of decorating. Staging is about de-personalizing a home so that it is attractive to the largest pool of buyers. By neutralizing and de-cluttering, it emphasizes your home’s best features.

You might want to compare staging to selling your car. Wouldn’t you remove personal effects, you know, that thing you love that dangles from the mirror, the coffee cup holder that you can reach perfectly, and all the loose change? And then wouldn’t you get it detailed? That is pretty much what home staging is all about – detailing your house so it will sell for more.

Home staging is an investment towards getting a higher price when you sell your home. Rather than looking at it as an expense, I consider it to be a small down payment towards a bigger return. •