Staging your Home – the Pros and Cons

Is your furniture a bit shabby and making your home look tired? There is an answer - staging your home with hired furniture. We take you through what is involved and the pros and cons.

Home staging your property to enhance its sale prospects is now ubiquitous enough for Wikipedia to have its own entry on the topic. In particular, Wikipedia defines home staging as “…the act of preparing a private residence prior to going up for sale in the real estate marketplace.”

The purpose of home staging is to improve the overall style and aesthetics of a property and its appeal to prospective purchasers through the use of furniture, art, landscaping, scene setting and other cosmetic measures. While these aspects emphasise the improvement of a property, the reducing of the flaws of a property through depersonalising or ‘decluttering’ of living spaces and the like is a valid form of home staging.

For the sceptic, anecdotal evidence that a property’s time on the market reduces with home staging does exist. Successful home stagers realise that the staging is an art, not a science. A balance must be struck between the aesthetically pleasant and the garishly overdone. Don’t forget, you’re not creating a showroom, but rather a delightfully balanced and homely appearance – perfect for your property’s intended market.

Home staging assists your marketing effort by creating a superior distinction from similar properties for sale. You can’t afford to be lazy. First of all, ensure the simple things are done properly:

• Have you cleaned and tidied your house? Simple, but very effective.
• Is the garden tidy? Ensure the lawns are mowed and the leaves are raked up or blown away.
• Have fittings, door knobs, porches and the like been scrubbed clean? Most purchasers will relate to these items even if their own homes aren’t currently in perfect knick.
• Ensure all surfaces in your home are clean – walls, windows, glass etc.

Effective home staging avoids clutter. Put extra bits and pieces in storage – especially those books, magazines and CDs. It’s also a good idea to remove the personal touches from your property when home staging. When viewing your home, prospective buyers should feel as though the house is already theirs; they should not be made to feel as though they are merely a guest in your home. One valuable way of achieving this is to remove family photographs and other personal effects on open days.

To maintain the cleanliness aspect of home staging, consider the various smells that get trapped inside:

• If you smoke, don’t – not inside anyway.
• Maybe keep pets out of the main living areas during your marketing campaign.
• Open the windows before your open home – let the breeze though.

You must ensure everything in your property is in working order – and that there is no obvious damage in your house. Even minor cracks on tiles and a dripping tap in the bathroom are likely to put off, or at the very least not impress, your prospective purchaser. Think of your inattention to minor repairs as equating to a quantum diminishment in the value of your property – far in excess of what an actual repair would cost.

If any home surfaces require freshening up – do so. You are likely to recoup far more than the cost of a can of paint for the front door or garden wall than if you leave them in their own state of tiredness. Never assume that a buyer will ever think that a house only needs a lick of paint here and there.

Be careful with furniture. Less usually means more – and if a large amount of the furniture you do have is severely dated, perhaps consider renting some during the course of your marketing campaign. If you like the idea of a personal touch being present in your home while you’re trying to sell it, the garden is a good place to portray it – flowers seldom offend and planting boxes on decks, porches and near exterior doorways often look universally stylish.

On an open day itself, don’t forget the masterpiece finishing touches:

• Light the fire if it’s winter.
• Nothing beats the smell of fresh bread cooking in the kitchen.
• Possibly some jazz or other mood music in the background will be helpful.

Remember, you’re trying to create a difference from others that may well be the same as yours. Excellent home staging may not only sell your house, it might create a premium price as well.



*Article by Geoffrey Lush

by AliceM | 03/03/2010

http://experts.realestate.com.au/selling/selling-news-home-staging-your-home-the-pros-and-cons