Do you want to sell your home as fast as possible? According to this article in the Wall Street Journal’s blog, staging a home can change that house’s time on the market from 156 days on average to about 42 days. That kind of huge time difference makes it obvious that buyers are more likely to make an offer on a staged home than on one with a less professional presentation. Understanding how home staging can get your house sold faster makes it easier to see why staging works so well.
Give Potential Buyers What They Want
When you stage your home, you give potential buyers a way to see themselves living in the home you are trying to sell. We talked with Showhomes Home Staging about this topic, and they added “Home stagers remove personalized touches from homes they are trying to sell and use colors and patterns that are as neutral as possible. While your home’s normal look may reflect your family much more than a staged home might, the staged home will allow the buyer to see their own family living there.” Instead of a potential buyer seeing themselves sitting in your living room, they will get a chance to imagine making a blank slate their own.
What Stagers Do
• Make Minor Fixes – A home stager will start by fixing small cosmetic problems that might keep your home from selling. Stagers might clean up scratched cabinets and deal with other minor cosmetic issues before they stage a home. These little problems are easy to fix and leave a poor impression with potential buyers when they are left as they are.
• Change Color Schemes – Home stagers aim for a neutral color scheme that will help buyers of all types imagine themselves in your home. A stager will work with your home to make every room look like it could belong to anyone at all while remaining attractive. Your home may feel like it has less personality, but homes sell faster when the buyer is invited to add their own personal touches later on.
• Add Coordinated Items – Stagers can work with your furniture as well as add rental pieces in order to keep the home looking neutral and well decorated. You might be asked to move some furniture into storage while the stager replaces items with options that are more generalized. Other small things may be changed in order to help the new decor make a good impression.
• Remove Personal Touches – A wise home stager will ask you to remove your photographs and personalized items from the home for the showing. Since potential buyers are supposed to see themselves living in your home, they will be more likely to make an offer if they aren’t reminded that another family lives there. Removing personal touches is a simple way to help buyers see themselves living in the house.
Staging Your Home On A Budget
The cost of home staging can vary greatly depending on what the stager has to work with and what budget you need to work in. These tips from Bankrate can make it possible to do some basic home staging without spending much money. Home staging experts can work with families with many different budgets in order to help sell a home faster and at a better price. Some real estate agents even handle minor staging themselves.
Sell your home fast and get a great asking price by staging the house before you sell. When you invite buyers to imagine themselves living in the home instead of you and your family, you encourage them to make an offer. Personal touches may make a home your own, but a staged house that appeals to everyone will get you into your next home faster.
