Home Staging: Maximizing Returns With a Competitive Edge

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Are you looking for an effective way to reduce your property's time on the market and increase its selling price? Staging services might be exactly what you need. By staging your home, you can increase the appeal of your home and maximize its selling potential. 

On average, staging a home leads to better offers and less time spent on the market. The way your property looks and the speed of setting it up for the market are important. You don't want to lose any time and money to the competition. 

Staging can make even the most uninviting spaces look functional and neat. In this article, you will learn more about the advantages of staging, common misconceptions about home staging, and how it can set your property apart from the competition.

Impact of Home Staging on Selling Time and Price

According to a recent report by the National Association of Realtors, almost half of real estate agents think staging has helped them sell property faster. And when it comes to a highly competitive area like the real estate market, time is everything. Staging is a great investment as it increases the likelihood of your property being booked faster.

Here are possible impacts of staging your house can have on selling time:

• Staging accelerates the sale process. By presenting the home in its best light, sellers are more likely to attract serious and motivated buyers. It often leads to quicker offers and a more streamlined negotiation process, saving valuable time for both parties involved.

• Staging decreases costs. The longer a property remains unsold, the more it costs the seller to maintain expenses like utilities, maintenance, and mortgage payments. By reducing the time on the market through effective staging, sellers can mitigate these costs.  

With more buyers attracted to staged homes and a smoother sales process overall, it’s clear why professional home staging services are becoming increasingly popular.

Moreover, staging your home has been shown to increase its selling offers by up to 5%. Here are a few reasons you might want to consider staging as your property price booster:

• Staging enhances perceived value. A well-staged home often appears move-in ready, minimizing the perceived work and investment needed by a potential buyer. It increases the willingness of buyers to pay a higher price, thereby potentially boosting the final sale price.

• Staging provides a competitive advantage. A staged home stands out in a market saturated with options. It creates a memorable first impression and could be the distinguishing factor that sets a property apart from comparable listings. 

You can invest $100 in staging and get a return on investment that is four times higher than the money you spent on it. 

Addressing Home Staging Misconceptions

Staging has been on the real estate market long enough to build some misconceptions around it. Here are some of the most common ones:

• Staging is only for luxury properties. People often expect high-end properties to be staged and look mesmerizing. However, it doesn’t mean that staging is exclusive to luxury real estate. For example, you can invest $2,000 in staging a one-bedroom unit and experience a substantial return on investment. 

• Staging isn’t necessary in a hot market. While you may sell a property without staging in a hot market, staging can guarantee you the best possible price offer. 

• Staging is only about making a home look pretty. Home stagers are not decorators. Staging is more about accentuating the property’s strengths and diverting attention away from any weaknesses. The property should evoke emotions and desires in potential buyers. 

Consider staging your home so that you can see its real impact yourself.

Varied Types and Costs of Staging

You don't need much to get started with home staging. The price of staging your house will depend on the type of property, its layout, and the inventory you have or might need. The quality of staging will also depend on the budget you have. 

The more you are willing to spend, the more likely you get the desired results. There are five types of staging services:

• сonsultation only;

• consultation and organization;

• consultation, decluttering, packing, and storage;

• consultation, organization, and redesign;

• full-service home staging. 

The average cost of staging is 1-3% of the listing price, which is a relatively small investment compared to the potential returns you might get. 

Some companies offer photo and video services so that you don’t have to worry about the best image angles and picture quality. Companies that stage Dubai properties can adapt to various property specifics.

Staging Recommendations for Sellers

Here are some basic tips for those looking to enhance a property’s visual potential: 

• invest in proper lighting; 

• use light and neutral colors; 

• make necessary repairs; 

• decorate with clean, comfortable furniture;

• maximizing space and luminosity.

You should aim to create multifunctional environments to use space wisely. For example, the living room can be used as a guest room, or you can add a Murphy bed to the wall and use it as a bedroom.

You can increase the amount of light by opening up the rooms with large windows, removing thick drapes or blinds, or adding skylights. You can also add mirrors and bright artwork to reflect natural light into the room.

Visual elements like paint, lighting, and main furniture, complemented by affordable temporary decor, can help you achieve the look of an expensive decorator without breaking the bank. You can also use furniture and accessories to create a focal point in each room, which will draw attention away from any cheap or dated elements.

Make sure you avoid common mistakes when it comes to staging your home, like leaving storage spaces cluttered, choosing strong colors or excessive patterns, or neglecting obvious problems like leaks and cracks.

To Sum Up

Home staging is a powerful tool you can use to improve the look and feel of your real estate. It can increase the popularity of your listing and help you sell faster for more. You should contact staging professionals in your area if reaching the full potential of your property is something you want to do.

Guest Post - How To Stage an Empty House on a Budget

Yes, staging a house on a budget is entirely possible. Sellers who are considering staging their home can increase the overall value of the property. Plus, it can help potential buyers feel welcomed that they’d be willing to buy the house.

What’s great about home staging is that you are basically displaying your own personal touch. And anyone who likes your work and buys the home is the right new home owners.

Home staging does not have to be expensive at all. If you want your house to get sold right away, then these budget-friendly home staging tips to turn an empty house into another family’s dream home.

Clean the house

It is best to clean your house before staging thoroughly. Since it is an empty home, cleaning it should be easier compared to if it is filled with appliances, furniture, and other decorative.

There is no need to declutter anything. So, all you have to do is sweep up and make sure that all parts of the home are nice and tidy. If the house has a garage and a patio, those need to get cleaned as well.

The windows need to be shiny. Doorknobs should be polished, lighting fixtures are cobweb-free, disinfect the entire kitchen and make the bathroom(s) sparkling clean. If your home has carpeted floors, you may want to hire some end of lease carpet cleaning services to perform a throughout cleaning.

See to it the entire house smells good too. Some homes have had pets previously. If the house for sale had a pet before, you might want to hire a professional service that will take care of pet odors.

Basically, you want your empty home to be free from dust, dirt, and all other messes. If there are still further staging procedures needed, make sure that you get the house cleaned up first before showing it to potential buyers. And don’t forget to maintain the curb.

Renovation is key to selling a home

Undertaking the necessary renovations can help a house gets sold faster. You must be able to ‘wow’ anyone who takes a look at your home in order to attract their interest in buying your property.

Among the many renovations needed to get done before putting up a house for sale is repainting. You want to make your home more appealing to potential buyers and giving it a fresh coat of paint is something that should not be skipped.

Giving the walls, doors, and stairway a fresh coat of paint can increase the overall appeal of the house. Use neutral colors when painting anything in the house. This will allow for more appeal to all potential buyers with different color preferences

You do not need to repaint the entire house, though. Since we’re working on a tight budget, painting the main rooms is going to suffice. You don’t have to repaint anything in the bathroom not unless it needs one badly.

Make sure that you fix any dents or holes in walls. See to it that you replace all busted light bulbs, handle leaking faucets, and fix all squeaky doors.

Add some props

When staging an empty house, you should know where to put a focus on. You should prioritize staging the living room, dining, and the master bedroom. You can add one more room to stage if the house has several bedrooms. 

Your goal here is basically to emphasize the space in the respective rooms. So, it is important not to fill the spaces with a bunch of furniture and other decorative.

For the living room, you will only need to provide a sofa, a side table, a coffee table, and a couple of chairs. A table and a set of chairs would suffice in the dining room. Just add a centerpiece to complete the staging. 

You can get creative when it comes to staging the master bedroom. Set up a bed that will appeal to anyone, add in two bedside tables, and put a rug to highlight comfort and sophistication. 

You do not have to buy new furniture as you can simply make use of used furniture. If you do not have the necessary or appropriate kind of furniture, then you can opt to get on in a furniture rental shop.

And finally for the finishing touches add in a few paintings, custom made curtains, decorative jars, flowers in a vase, some magazines, and clean white towels in the bathroom.

These are just the main things you need to do before you put up your home for sale. You can basically get creative with the staging procedures. Once you’ve made the necessary fixes in your home, it should already be more appealing to potential buyers.

Author’s Bio:

Sean Hangar is owner and head designer at Custom Curtains Hurstville based in Sydney. He has years of experience helping people to make their homes and work places look amazing through his curtain and interior design. 

With an eye for detail and the best materials available in Australia, his designs are transforming homes throughout Sydney! Check out his website here.

Interview - STYLE ADORN

At House to Home Organizing a large percentage of our clientele are people who are moving. Moving can be stressful and before the move comes another potential stressor, putting the house on the market. We spoke with Tracy Marraccini & Kelly Lapadula of STYLE ADORN about how they can help during the home sale process.

For the busy person, what is STYLE ADORN?

In its essence, STYLE ADORN is a home staging/styling company dedicated to “adorning” or embellishing ones’ home in order to gain a competitive marketing edge in the home selling arena.

We believe that every home has a story to tell, a unique spirit within itself. Our customized design approach takes into account the special nuances of each home, as we strive to create inspiring, welcoming spaces.

In guiding sellers through the stressful process of preparing their home, we often share our philosophy which is “As you evolve, your home should too.” We have found that this idea gives home owners “permission” to let go and prepare for change, as they transition from one home to the next.

What is your origin story, how did you get started?

We met a few years ago at the start of both of our real estate careers. We had an instant connection as we both shared a passion for all of the aesthetics of home sales. As we each started to develop our individual careers as agents, we became increasing aware of the impact of how each home was presented. Separately, we were both getting involved with the staging process and were each becoming a resource for our fellow agents, helping them prepare their listings to hit the market.

While we continued to support each other’s real estate careers, our conversations soon became about how we could collectively fill the need to “showcase” homes to promote quicker sales. The timing felt right too, with both of us seeking opportunities to express our art and design backgrounds. We instinctively knew that our styles complemented on another, and we soon realized that our goals and sensitivities did as well. From these ideas, STYLE ADORN came into full bloom!

Why is staging a home important?

Today’s buyers are savvy and particular, making home staging more relevant than ever. When a buyer walks into a home, they are seeking an emotional connection. We are able to address the psychological component of home buying by creating a lifestyle element people can envision themselves “stepping into” and enjoying. In conjunction with this is idea, is the fact that today’s search engines are a driving force in real estate sales. As this is the case, we are very focused on how our staged homes are presented and marketed on-line. While conducting their on-line searches, buyers are making quick decisions as to which properties they will consider, further emphasizing the need to capture their attention.

For these reasons, home staging has become a critical component in promoting the sale of ones’ home.

How involved is the home owner in the process?

With regards to homeowner involvement, it really depends upon the particular situation. If a home is unoccupied, we generally go in without any restraints, and are able to create visually stimulating spaces.

When the homeowners are living in their home, we are sensitive to the fact that it can be intrusive to come in and rework their personal space. Most people love their home, value their belongings, and are essentially trusting us with what is likely their largest asset.

We believe that what sets us apart from our competition is that we are flexible and sensitive to each homeowners needs as they prepare to sell their home. With this in mind, we often will incorporate a homeowners valued pieces into our design plan. Allowing them to have input ultimately creates a comfort level with our clients, as well as a space that truly reflects the inherent features of what makes a home a “home!”

What have been some of your favorite projects?

We have been very fortunate in that we have had the opportunity to work in a variety of different style homes, all with unique challenges. For example, one home was new construction with an unconventional layout. Buyers were confused as to how to utilize the spaces, so we were tasked with helping to define the rooms by staging them. Once staged, that home went into contract within days.

Another project involved a mid-century home that hadn’t been updated at all. We were able to incorporate some of the homeowner’s pieces with our modern pieces to create a cool vibe.

But probably our favorite project was one where the homeowners were extremely cooperative and very accommodating, allowing for maximum creative freedom. They were open to all of our ideas and suggestions regarding new paint color and replacement light fixtures, which yielded a dramatic transformation.