Why Staging Your Home is Important

Staging a home is the art of highlighting the home’s best features, transforming the home to look brand new, and ultimately showing the home’s full potential. It is an essential piece in the home selling process.

Staging in a Hot Market

Some may think taking the effort to stage a home in a hot market might be a little overkill. After all, won’t the home sell regardless? Yes, your home will sell as is, but a staged home will sell quickly and at a higher price than if you didn’t. When there is a sense of urgency to buy, more buyers are influenced by first impressions and emotions. Neuromarketing states that even without a sense of urgency, the part of our brain that makes purchasing decisions is stimulated by visual aids and tangible aids — the ability to see and feel something. Yes, the market might be hot, but you should still consider staging your home for the best results.

Judging Covers

Despite the adage not to judge a book by its cover. We decide what we will read based on the first image we see. Why wouldn’t a seller want to put the house in the best light? Removing clutter from a well-loved and well-lived-in home is imperative to ensure that the cover is impeccable and leads the buyer to excitedly explore more of the house.

Depersonalize

Buyers want to visualize their own family in the home. Clearing the walls of family portraits and the refrigerator door of school achievements helps all the buyers imagine their family portraits on the wall and their kids’ accomplishments on the fridge door.  This depersonalization helps the buyer feel like they’re shopping for ‘their’ home, not walking through someone else’s personal space.

What’s the Value?

A staged house can increase the value of your home. Finding a professional stager with expertise in knowing the best look for a place in any market will translate to a higher price for your home. Remember that staging is more than just the visual appeal. Citrus, pine, jasmine, cinnamon, and vanilla are all highly regarded scents to evoke the feelings you want potential home buyers to have when looking at your home. Who knew that scent could increase the value of your home? Having all the pieces working together creates a well-displayed home that is worth the buy!

Not Just for In-Person Views

More and more people do their research before even going to a store. The same is true for a house. A staged home will make online photos of the house pop and set the property apart from the other homes that didn’t go through the staging process. As people are used to swiping right and left within seconds, finding a reason to get them to linger on the images of your home will make the difference in how long the home will be on the market.

Their Home

Everyone has different tastes, and each home can house a wealth of designs. Your preference will probably not be the same as your eventual buyer’s. That means your home must cease reflecting your taste and begin to reflect a more generic taste and style that potential buyers can embrace and move forward with. Good staging will be less of you and more of that neutral style. Remember, you’re selling your home anyway; many of those items will be packed away!

Once you’re ready to start staging, take a look at the properties you see online. Maybe you like one over the other. Reach out to their stager, or speak to your real estate agent. They may have the skills to help you; if they don’t, they’ll likely have the necessary contacts.