I will scream it from the mountain tops, if you are looking to sell your home, staging before you list it is absolutely worth every penny and more! Let me explain….
Let’s start at the beginning. What is home staging, some of you might be asking. Home staging is the process of hiring a professional to decorate your home with art, furniture, and accessories that showcase its best features and appeal to potential buyers. A home can be staged occupied or unoccupied. However, if occupied, a home stager will usually use some of your existing items and replace or add others to create a more attractive and inviting space. They will also advise you on how to declutter, organize, and update your home to make it look more spacious, modern, and well-maintained. Home staging helps buyers envision themselves living in your home and fall in love with it. In fact, according to NAR (National Association of Realtors) 81% of realtors say that home staging makes it easier for buyers to visualize a property as their future home.
Photo Courtesy of: The Eclectic Chameleon Home Staging & Design
As a former real estate agent and a current owner of several rental properties, I have seen firsthand the benefits of home staging. I also work regularly with contractors and investors who flip homes, and they always regret it when they skip or skimp on home staging. Homes that are not staged tend to sit on the market longer and sell for less than expected. On the other hand, homes that are staged create a positive first impression and generate more interest and offers. Home staging is especially important for homes that have outdated features, awkward layouts, or lack of curb appeal. A home stager can transform these homes into desirable properties that stand out from the competition.
When you list your home with a reputable and experienced real estate agent, they will do a walk-through of your home and give you some basic suggestions on how to prepare it for sale. They may also refer you to a professional home stager, who can offer you more detailed and customized advice. I highly recommend that you take advantage of this opportunity and meet with a home stager before you put your home on the market.
Photo Courtesy of: The Eclectic Chameleon Home Staging & Design
I regularly work with a wonderful stager who will happily break down good, better, or best-case scenarios for someone getting ready to sell their home. This offers the seller options in different price ranges to help them get their house in the best condition to sell and to get top dollar. The good scenario she would offer would be a list of options that the homeowner could accomplish on their own at a lower cost that would help shine a better light on the home, it would possibly include them updating cabinet hardware, some lighting in the home, or freshening up some paint. The better scenario would include everything the good scenario included plus the stager coming in reworking some of the homeowner's current furniture and accessories and bringing in some additional artwork and accessories. the best-case scenario would include all the things the first two scenarios included plus bringing in furniture. This isn’t how every home stager structures their plans; however, I’ve found this works great for a wide range of homeowners planning to sell.
Photo Courtesy of: The Eclectic Chameleon Home Staging & Design
If you are planning to sell your home, you don’t want the headache of it sitting on the market, and you want to get top dollar, contact a home stager as one of the first steps in your home selling process. Many people will argue that they don’t want to spend the extra money, I promise, spending a little extra money up front will save you time and make you more money on your home in the end.
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