When selling a home, most people focus on the selling price. However, timing can also be a significant factor, especially when you’re trying to sell fast. Home staging is a great way to help accomplish that.
Whether you’re trying to sell and buy at the same time and you don’t want to be stuck with two mortgage payments, or you simply need to unload a rental property or a vacation home in another state quickly, there are plenty of reasons you might want to sell a home quickly.
One of the best ways to sell fast is by properly staging your home.
What Is Staging?
Most people have heard the term “staging.” HGTV has made it a household word. However, it turns out that staging is a bit more nuanced than simply setting up some fancy furniture and setting out a plate of cookies.
In fact, the concept of staging a home doesn’t really revolve around making it as fancy as possible, unless it’s a show home. On the contrary, you want a staged space to be subtly attractive. Furniture, appliances, lighting, and everything else should be set up in a manner that quietly helps prospective buyers see themselves as potential occupants.
In many ways, staging a home is like being an educator. The teacher shouldn’t be the focal point, nor should they get in the way of the information being taught. If they’re doing their job correctly, they will facilitate the primary goal of the classroom setting: the transfer of knowledge.
In the same sense, staging should never be done for its own sake. Nor should it be the focal point of your space. Instead, it should be set up to maximize the attractiveness and livability of the structure itself. It should show off large spaces, provide a warm, inviting atmosphere, and generally reflect the kind of home that offers enormous possibilities regardless of the specific color of the walls or the style of the upholstery.
A properly staged house should provide you with two benefits:
- An increase in the price paid: 71% of sellers’ agents consider staging to directly increase the dollar value offered by buyers, while 21% claimed it boosted the sale price by as much as 10%.
- The speed at which the house sells: Staging a space to be more appealing attracts more buyers and creates a sense of urgency as they vie to snap it up before everyone else.
Once you’re sold on the idea of staging your home before a transaction, the question is who should do the staging. Should it be you or a professional?
The Cost of Professional Staging
It should come as no surprise that professionally staging a house is the best way to get top dollar for your home. A professional will come equipped with knowledge of current market trends, valuable decor, and even a well-honed ability to set up and structure each room for maximum appeal.
Here’s the rub, though. Professionals cost money — lots of money. Staging a home can cost hundreds and even thousands of dollars. Of course, the specific costs always vary depending on a variety of factors. Your geographic location, the size of your home, and the reputation of the staging service can all impact how much you pay.
Even if professional staging increases the selling price, each dollar that you spend on a professional stager is going to eat into your profit.
For many people, this leaves the alternative of staging a space themselves.
Tips for Effective DIY Staging
When it comes to staging a space, it’s wise to adopt a “do it right or leave it alone” mentality. If you simply try to cobble together an eclectic group of staging ideas — mixed in with some of your own personal style interests — you can end up doing more harm than good. Instead, follow these tips to properly stage your home in an affordable-yet-effective manner:
Do Your Research
Never trust your gut when staging a home. Never-ending changes in interior decor mean designs that are popular today are dated tomorrow. Always do your research to figure out what designs are trending at the moment or opt for a classic interior design with a “forever” appeal.
Set Your Priorities
Staging is hardly the time to start major remodels or sink thousands of dollars into new furniture. Instead, always create a list of affordable and easy priorities, such as:
- Rearranging furniture.
- Decluttering spaces.
- Deep cleaning the house.
- Making sure appliances are in tip-top shape.
- Replacing old carpets.
- Hanging mirrors and pictures.
- Adding greenery.
Create a Staging Budget
If you avoid the cost of professional staging but then end up spending the same amount of money doing the work yourself, you’ll end up losing out on both ends of the deal. Instead, set a maximum staging budget and then price out each of your priorities to consider which ones you should invest in.
Moving Quickly for Pennies on the Dollar
Even when you do it yourself, staging a home takes time, effort, thoughtfulness, and even some financial investment. However, if you take the time to properly stage your space, you can capitalize on the attractiveness of a staged home without risking thousands of dollars of your potential profits in the process.
We hope you found this blog post: Sell Your Home Faster With Proper Staging, useful. Be sure to check out our post 5 Preparations That Will Help You Sell Your Home Faster for more great tips!
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