The Importance of Staging Your Home
Your home may be absolutely flawless in your eyes. It might be your ideal version of stylish, trendy, and have all fancy new upgrades, but unless you are a unique case, your home is not staged. Staging a home for sale is not a brand new concept, but is a practice that has rapidly gained popularity given the super competitive real estate market. We have run into homeowners in the past that confuse staging with decorating and consequently resist the process and recommendations of staging professionals. The reality is that the moment you commit to marketing your home for sale, you must be dedicated to the idea of transforming your home into a place that potential buyers can easily fall in love with and think to themselves, “I want to move in here today.” Commencing this process simply means that the seller must emotionally detach from the home.
To ease the stress of altering your home from the way that you are comfortable with, our team at Twist Tours has come up with some of the more important aspects that go along with staging your home. Both pleasing buyers in person and online are so critical to ensuring that this process is a success!
Allow your home to resonate with buyers
Your home may be flawless in your own eyes, but what are potential buyers saying about it? Many sellers take the whole process of staging their home very personally, which is precisely the point. Customizing your home is an extremely personal activity, but how we live is not how we sell. The goal when staging a home is to make it speak to everyone else in a compelling and positive way rather than to be so specific that others cannot picture themselves living there.
You may be very proud of your spoon collection and how every single one is very special and unique, however, this collection only draws the buyer’s attention away from the rest of the home. Likewise, the personal photos, overstuffed cabinets, and other treasures may make you happy, but these will be no more than a distraction.
Both buyers and agents tend to label homes, so your home can either be the “house with a gorgeous arched doorways and tranquil pool in the backyard,” or “the house with a bunch of books and knickknacks in the room where the dining room should be.” Evoking proper emotional reactions is so very important when selling a home.
For those that are planning on staging their home to be listed online, which is highly recommended, getting the perfect shots to allow all potential buyers to be impressed is crucial.
Kick out the clutter
It is very common for people to cruise through life and let clutter build up without even noticing. The little stack of mail, loose change, and coupons next to the pile of menus can quickly become an issue for a buyer. All of this clutter will be sending the message that you do not have enough space in your home. Many kitchen counters have a toaster, coffee pot, butcher block of knives, and a bowl of fruit in a decorative bowl. This arrangement is very functional but will show a lack of cabinet space to store these items. If you are hoping to sell your home, cleaning up your act is a must. Once your home is properly staged and these distractions are removed, capturing this beauty and every little extra detail is so important to set yours apart.
Let the stager work their magic
When staging a home, the goal is most definitely not to turn your home into the eighth wonder of the world but to work with what you have by reallocating your belongings, strategically rearranging furniture, and truly putting everything in order to present the property in its best possible light. In many cases, this may mean moving some items into the garage to be stored until the home is officially sold.
Far too often this process is taking personally, but it definitely should not be. Staging is not a do-it-yourself event; only a third party specialist can bring in neutrality and objectivity needed to properly accomplish the mission. You may interpret the message that your favorite piece of art would look much better not visible to a buyer as an indictment of your style and tastes, but in many cases, it is not. Rather than this being an insult, it is the stager’s attempt at making sure that your additions to the home do not upstage the actual home itself.
It may be unsettling watching your life be rearranged, but if selling your home in the shortest amount of time and for the most money is your goal, it is pleasing the buyers that should always be your focus!
