How important is staging in selling your home? Consider this – it’s so important that a multi-million dollar staging industry now exists with professional stagers. These people are not realtors or interior decorators; they’re professionals whose sole occupation is staging your home for potential buyers. Staging plays a huge role in whether your house gets sold or not.
Staging basically sets the mood for your home. If done right, it makes your house look bigger, cleaner, brighter, warmer and more inviting so that people will want to buy it. It’s really a kind of troubleshooting that involves looking for problem areas of your home and removing them.
Why Do We Need Staging?
Why is it necessary to put the best face on a house? It’s needed because there are so many houses on the market. Because it’s so competitive, your home needs to be flawless. People don’t always see the details but instead take in the “big picture.” Once they get a general idea of the house, then they start looking more closely. Staging shows them the home’s best side first and invites them to take a closer look.
Staging is similar to remodeling but there’s one major difference. Whereas remodelers are likely to add new features to make a home look better, stagers are more likely to get rid of things. It’s simple at the outset, but there is a lot to learn if you want to do it properly. You have to know exactly what buyers are looking for and how your home will look to them.
The Basics Of Staging
Staging involves remodeling, getting rid of clutter, moving furniture and improving curb appeal. Realtor Barb Schwarz, who is given credit for inventing the idea of staging, said that it was about the “3 Cs” – cleanliness, clutter reduction and color.
One aim is to make the rooms feel more spacious. This is done by rearranging furniture and opening drapes and blinds to let the sunshine in. Opening up your rooms makes the home seem bigger and more welcoming. People want a home with an open feeling and not one that feels like a cramped space.
A stager might apply new oil to cabinets and other wood features. This is done to prevent the wood from having a dry and worn look. When nicely polished, the wood shines with a new luster. This makes it more attractive and gives it a fresher feeling.
When it comes to furniture arrangement, wall art and knick knacks, the idea is to keep things simple. Again, you want to avoid filling the home with too much and giving it a cramped or disordered feeling. Only features that help define the spaces should be included. Everything else should be removed. Stagers may add knick knacks such as books or bowls of fruit, but they will do so sparingly. They usually like to leave counters and other horizontal surfaces bare.
It’s not just about how a home looks. Another element of staging is smell control. You’ll want to make your home smell good and get rid of cigarette, pet or mildew odors. These smells are often not noticeable to the homeowner because you get used to them. The home should also be clean, especially because families may be looking at your home. Would they want their baby crawling around on the floor?
You can do your own staging or hire a professional to do it for you. Many realtors are skilled at this art form as well. If you do it yourself, it takes a bit of study and expertise. Pay close attention to the image your home projects. The idea is to give your prospective buyer the right first impression of your home – a home that is open, clean and beautiful.
