This is a guest blog post from Ann Alderson, with Home Staging South Tampa. Great advice and ideas to help sell your house in a down market; and it’s not as expensive as you may think!
The final step in preparing a house for market is the most creative step. Once the house has been de-cluttered, cleaned, repaired and neutralized, the last step to creating the right impression and feelings is home staging. This is the unspoken method that makes buyers fall in love and feel themselves owning and living in the home. This is where and how you get in touch with their feelings — the ones that make them want to return, move in and enjoy living in the home.
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From Westshore Home Complete |
Here are some key points for home staging:
- To feel totally comfortable in the home.
- To see it as a personal haven from the hectic life outside.
- To enjoy the beauty of the structure or view.
- To see it as a place to be proud to own.
- To see it as a place to show to family and friends.
- To see it as a place to live safely and see their family happy.
If buyers emotionally connect with the home, they will often sacrifice a feature on their list. They might even pay a higher price. But falling in love with the home is the key factor. That is why Home Enhancement is crucial when the home is competing with new construction/model homes. Resale homes are at a disadvantage in this market and home staging gives them a leg up. By using vignettes in a room you can easily focus the buyer’s attention in a specific direction.
Remember, when staging, less is more and a room shouldn’t be stuffed full of furniture and accessories. In fact, the room should be trimmed severely. So you’ll want to decide from the beginning what type of room you want it to be featured as and whether the room can double for a second activity or not. For instance, when you work in the master bedroom, see if you can make it a master suite and look for a way to create a seating area in addition to the sleeping space.
Have you noticed in design magazines that the rooms look warm and inviting without actually depicting people in the space? Yet the rooms look like you could relax, enjoy a book, take a bath or entertain lavishly. These are the types of feelings you want to create. This is the secret to successful home staging.
Each room should speak to you in its own way. Maybe it speaks relaxation. Maybe it speaks comfort. Go with that aspect and then try to tweak it to suggest something other than the obvious.
Look for ways you can reach a buyer’s senses — sight, smell, sound, touch. The more successfully you can tap into their emotions, the sooner the sale will take place and the higher the price you will get.
