Best Place Real Estate

Imagine that you are selling your home at the mall, let’s say in the “house store”.  You would do what all the other stores do. 

Clothes stores have mannequins in the window featuring the latest fashions.  The mannequin is wearing the whole outfit - dress, jewelry, shoes, purse, and maybe even a hat.  The same dress on the rack may look rather plain, but in the window, with the jewelry and all, it is the start of a really outstanding outfit.  The window display gives a shopper an idea of how well the dress may fit in her wardrobe.

Now let’s go to the furniture store.  You might walk through rows of couches and tables and find nothing that jumps out at you.  But, when you see a couch and tables displayed in a room setting with lamps, candles, and potted plants, you stop and think how great that couch might look in your home.  The store might even have the same couch in two different room settings, suggesting to the shopper that the couch works well in both formal and informal decor. 

So now to the “house store” where your home is listed for sale.  You want your house featured in the store window.  You want your house displayed so as to give shoppers an idea of how your home may fit into their lifestyle.  This is staging.  Staging sets your house apart from the houses on the rack or the rows of houses.

Just for clarification.  Staging is not decorating.  Staging is not preparing your home for sale by making repairs and doing inspections.  Staging is marketing your home. 

We live in our homes differently than we sell them.  Most people are at least a little emotional about their homes.  But when we sell it, we need to put those emotions aside.  When we put our home on the market, we really need to appeal to the buyer’s emotions.  This is where staging comes in. 

Even the most beautifully decorated and upgraded home may need to be staged.  Decorating is a personal thing.  Staging de-personalizes it. 

Staging doesn’t necessarily cost a lot.  Often it is only changing or rearranging a few things in a house.  In fact, the cheapest thing that has the most impact is getting rid of clutter.  On the other hand, I feel it is well worth the money to stage a vacant home with furniture and accessories.  The staging will probably pay for itself and then some in the sales price.

Regardless of whether we are in a slow real estate market or a rapidly appreciating one, staged homes usually sell more quickly and often for more money.