Home Staging
Excuse the cliché, but you never get a second chance to make a first impression. This is especially true when showing your home to potential buyers. Obviously you want to accentuate all the positive aspects of your home while hiding any potential drawbacks.
While a fresh pot of flowers or light music may liven things up, these days it may not be enough as sellers have become increasingly picky, and an oversupply of homes continue to stagnate on the market.
If you speak to any given real estate agent, they’ll likely tell you to keep your house intact, even if you’ve found a new place to live. Remember, it’s a lot harder to sell an empty house than a fully decorated home. So don’t pack your bags until your current home is sold!
So you may be thinking, I’ve left my home intact and even added flowers, a new rug, new paint, candles, etc, but still no takers. Well if you feel stuck, think about “home staging”, a professional service that preps and organizes your home to be shown in its best light to potential buyers.
“Home stagers” will come to your home, evaluate your home and consult with you, and then make a number of changes to make your home sell fast. These changes could range from a few rearrangements to a complete overhaul, depending on the situation and the amount of money you’d like to spend.
For example, a home staging company may enlist painters or contractors to make major changes, or they may simply bring in their own inventory of furniture and fixtures to spruce up your home.
Typical home staging improvements include removing clutter, cleaning up around the outside of the home, adding fresh coats of paint in key areas such as the entrance way, adjusting the lighting of the home, disguising any unpleasant odors, adding or removing furniture, playing music, cleaning windows, and much more.
Typically the cost of home staging is fairly expensive, but they say the return more than makes up for the cost. For a one million dollar home, you may be looking at a cost of $10,000, or 1% of the listing price. While it seems pricey, the benefits of a “staged home” could result in a selling price 10% higher than what you anticipated.
There have been a number of studies conducted regarding home staging which appear to be fairly optimistic. In fact, in some of the studies homes that were staged seemed to sell twice as quickly as those that weren’t, and snag a higher selling price in the process.
That doesn’t mean you need to spend money on a home stager yourself. You may be able to sit down and brainstorm with a friend, family member, or spouse to discover what changes will add value to your home. But if you’re looking for convenience, you may want to leave it to the professionals.
If you’re thinking about some DIY before you sell your home, take a look at our list of the best and worst home improvements.
Not all changes to your home equate to better asking prices and quicker sales. Make sure you know what works and what doesn’t. It’s not universal, and will vary from region to region, and home to home.