Avoid a price drop by staging before listing

home staging is the process of de-cluttering, organizing, cleaning and decorating a home to emphasize its best features and appeal directly to the local market. This valuable tool helps homeowners sell a property faster and for more money.

In a fast-paced housing market, home staging can help create the buzz around a property that can lead to a frenzied bidding war when it is staged to appeal directly to the target market.

But, what happens when the same market slows down?

• A well staged property will list at a higher price than a similar property that has not been staged.  Although your real estate agent may suggest that lowering the price is the only way to sell in a slower market, well-executed staging justifies a higher listing price.
• Many buyers now begin their search for a property online, and a staged home shows beautifully in photographs and other marketing materials.  This pre-screening means potential buyers can decide against homes with less attractive online photos without ever viewing the property.
• A well staged home has high impact curb appeal to draw buyers in to view a home, when they may not even stop to look at a home whose curb appeal hasn’t been optimized.  

Staged properties stand out and are positively memorable when buyers view multiple properties -- they stay in a buyer’s mind while an uninspiring property may languish and become stale in a buyer’s market.  

Potential buyers experience a powerful emotional impact when viewing a home staged with them in mind.  Within the first critical 15 seconds of entering, if the house feels like a home, this powerful emotional impact is reinforced by effective staging as the buyer moves through every room in the house.  When a buyer can picture themselves and their family living in a home, any potential drawbacks to the property are automatically minimized in the buyer’s mind so they can justify the feeling of wanting to live in this space.  This is the magic of home staging and the reason a staged property will often sell faster, at a higher price, than a property that has not been staged.  

In a slowing real estate market home staging allows your property to shine in potential buyers’ hearts and minds and leaves the competition far behind.
 

Heather Stewart of HS home staging helps property owners sell faster,
for more money, by design. 
Heather can be reached at (778) 278-HSHS (4747)
or online at homestaging.com">www.hshomestaging.com