In this current sluggish real estate market, sellers are wondering whether it is necessary to bother staging their home prior to putting it on the market. Actually, staging is a very affordable way to increase the competitive advantage of the home to attract top price offers. Staging a home will make it appeal to the broadest market segment, thereby assuring a quicker sale.  Since very few buyers are able to visualize the full potential of a property, staging can transform an “ordinary house” into a “desirable home”. Some buyers in the $1million dollars plus bracket refuse to look at a property unless it is staged. They know that is the only way to see the full potential of the property.

Staging uses space planning, color selection and rental furniture to play up the architectural features of the house to make it more appealing to a greater number of buyers. Many homeowners have furniture that is too large for the room, which makes the space seem smaller.  Sometimes the condition and quality of the homeowner’s furnishings are incompatible with the high asking price of the home.  In these cases, staging the home with rented furniture and accessories increases the perceived value of the home, and the buyer is more likely to offer the full asking price. The stager’s skill with props can also make your home more unique than its competition.

Staging is particularly valuable when the house is vacant. Rental furniture can project the lifestyle of the prospective buyers into the home. Now the buyers can imagine themselves enjoying that lifestyle when they buy that particular home. Giving the buyers an emotional attachment to the property makes them more excited and motivated to make the offer. Many vacant homes that have languished on the market for several months are sold within a few days after they are staged.

Staging in any market condition eliminates the buyer objections, increases the number of offers and increases the price of the offers.

Written by Jean Cary of Jean Cary Interiors: 650-593-9622