Staging can transform a home and turn a diamond in the rough into a sparkling gem. Yet some people remain skeptical, in large part because they are unfamiliar with the process and nervous about the expense involved. For some, it’s a choice, while for others it’s a necessity.
If this list below applies to you, consider it a necessity:
1. Visitors ask how many pets you have without seeing any in your home
We love pets, but signs of them all over your house are a major turn off for buyers. From worn-out sofas to gently stained rugs and mildly chewed corners, you may be used to the wear and tear, not to mention the smell that comes along with pets living in your home, but potential buyers won’t be so forgiving. Staging will often require that your pets find an alternative place to live while it’s filled with shiny new furniture, but your home will look a whole lot better in the eyes of picky buyers.
2. Your home’s style can best be described as a ‘mish-mash’
‘Eclectic’ can be used as both a compliment and statement of concern with regards to your home’s interior. If your home has no flow and the room colour and furniture all look wildly different you need to stage your home. Painting may be required beforehand, but a consistent colour palette mixed with appropriate and complementary furniture throughout the entire living space can do wonders for making your home appeal to the masses. The burgundy curtains in the living room next to the teal curtains in the family room can be taken down and stored away. Let the professionals create a cohesive and stylish interior ready for it’s close up.
3. Your home’s decor and furniture are from decades past
There’s nothing wrong with old furniture and upholstery in your home; it just won’t help you sell it any faster. After spending far too much of my life looking at pictures of interiors I can tell you, the right furniture and accessories make all the difference. Your home could easily look lovely in person and photograph poorly because of the dated pieces and lack of colour or contrast in the space. Stagers will assess your home in terms of how it looks in person but also through the lens, which is incredibly important for attracting people to it. Pictures really are worth a thousand words, and potentially tens of thousands of dollars in your sale price.
4. You have children
I too believe children are the future and even think they’re cute when they can go home to their parents. I commend all the brave people out there raising them, but we can all agree that their toys and parents’ decision to ‘not have nice things’ until Jimmy is old enough to, well, leave the house, are often reason enough to need professional staging. A stager can provide you with valuable advice about which toys can stay, which ones should be packed, and how best to tackle that bedroom, playroom, catch-all room you have no idea what to do with. Your basement may be one large playroom but it could be the media room of your buyers’ dreams with a little help from staging. You’ve done right by your kids, now do right by your home, and get a little help from a professional.
5. You’ve tried to sell before without staging
We call these success stories. the BREL Team comes to the rescue of a seller who was unable to sell with another real estate brokerage or team and saves the day.
How do we do it? Well, it usually starts with exceptional staging and tireless work on the part of your agent to make sure everyone who needs to, sees your home in the best possible light. I won’t mention any names, but plenty of firms will sell your home for virtually no commission, and guess what? You get what you pay for. If your home has been on the market and hasn’t sold, what do you have to lose? Great staging is a game-changer for making your home appear new to the market and generating buzz around your property. If you’ve had a bad experience selling your home, don’t give up; just try something new. Staging.
the BREL Team, along with their staging company, ‘Upstaging’, make staging your home easy. It’s included in the commission and is done to the highest level to help ensure your home sells for top dollar. If the top agents in the city are investing in staging perhaps you should too?
Author: Kiel Storms. Read more about him here.