What is Home Staging? In a nut-shell, it’s de-personalizing a space to offend the least, and appeal to the greatest number of potential buyers. The goal is to positively affect a buyer’s first impression by helping them focus on a home’s features. Effective home staging provides a buyer with hints as to potential uses for each room while making the home feel as big, or even bigger, than the actual square footage. Ultimately, effective home staging will help you transition from selling to SOLD!
Staging has become such a buzz word in today’s real estate market. The word is thrown around a lot, but at the end of the day, what does it really mean? Take a look at staging literally…when you “set the stage” for a theatrical production, you are setting the tone, conjuring emotions and suggesting a place in which something happens. Similarly with home staging, you are setting the scene…hopefully a clean, well-cared for, updated, easy to live in and visually pleasing home. Home staging does not mean completely re- furnishing or re-design an interior. A good stager knows that there are degrees of staging…and every home and owner calls for differing degrees of staging depending on time, money and return on investment. The following are Annie’s components of staging:
The 3 c’s clean, clean and clean. A deep cleaning will not only make your home shine, it will make a huge impact with a buyer. To maximize the use of your time and resources, Annie will provide you with a prioritized list. What needs to be cleaned? What will make the greatest impact on the buyer’s perception of the home as a whole?
The 3 d’s de-clutter, de-personalize, décor… As buyers walk through and tour home, they mentally begin to move themselves in. Many times that which makes a home yours can prevent buyers from thinking of it as theirs. Annie will highlight which features of your home are making it easier or more difficult for a buyer to see the home as their own.
The 3 r’s repair, repaint, and replace…it might not be an issue for you anymore. You’ve learned how to live with it, even to the point that you don’t notice it any more. Annie takes a fresh look at your home through the eyes of today’s buyers. What will the buyer notice? Which of the 3 R’s will make the greatest impact on your sale?
Annie’s Staging Magic Once the R’s, C’s and D’s are done, Annie will consider traffic flow with furniture arrangements that maximize square footage; accents that move the buyers eye from feature to feature; furniture to give a sense of scale; and little “stages” that suggest a homey scene. All this being said, Annie is not a fan of over-the-top staging, i.e. staging that sets up too many little scenes (i.e., breakfast in bed, dinner in the dining room, cookbook open making dinner). Perhaps it is her hyper developed sense of “do I look like an idiot to you?” that makes her recoil at some one’s attempt to manipulate her emotions and responses to a space. However, if tastefully and sparingly done, these little scenes can set the stage. A show ready staged home that will help a buyer envision them living in your home.
Home Staging Case Studies: the how’s and why’s
One of Annie and Bob’s “wow factor’s” is the fact that each seller they work with receives one of Annie’s complete home staging consultations. While her reports are thorough and insightful, they are written with real sellers in mind. Sellers who have already have a full plate of work, family and friends in addition to the responsibilities of getting a home ready to sell. Annie prioritizes your to-do list to items that will have the greatest impact on the sale of YOUR specific home. Here are few examples of past consultations that helped recent sellers get their home ready for a quick, profitable and convenient sale.
Home Staging Case Study 1: The Town Home
