This week I will participate in Toronto Art Expo (April 19-22 at Toronto Metro Convention Center). You can find me at the booth 214. Everybody is very welcome! 
Most of my clients ask me what is the difference between Home Staging and Interior Decorating. They are quite different: Home Decorating is for living, and considers your taste, Staging is for selling and will make your house appeal to most potential buyers.
While Decorating is about making you feel great in your home, Staging is the art of making a buyer feel at home in your house.
Home Staging follows its basic principles: unclutter, clean, fix and repair, paint, update, optimize the spaces and create neutral but warm ambiance.
To learn more about interior decoration and staging visit my Interior Decoration website.
Today we will finish our mini-cycle of posting about staging. We have already talked about getting the money you want, cutting down time on the market and standing out from the crowd in the Top Reasons to Stage, bringing more people in, getting higher market price evaluation and attracting the best real estate agent in More Reasons to Stage. Today we will talk about the final 3 reasons:
Boost the advertising appeal
Pictures are worth a thousand words. Particularly these days, when most buyers will preselect the properties they are interested in through Web, you have to have the best photos possible to push potential buyers to the next step – a visit.
Show you love your home
Demonstrate it with pride. Most buyers prefer a home in a move-in condition and a well-maintained home inspires confidence. And you’ll not be getting ridiculously low offers from bargain hunters…
Prevent potential price reduction
A property is hot for the first few weeks it’s listed. If it does not attract buyers within that time period, odds are the realtor will attempt to convince you to lower the price. When you stage a home for sale, the investment in staging is much smaller compared to reducing the asking price, you’ll get it back at the sale – so protect your equity.
To learn more about staging or to stage with me visit my Interior Decoration website.
Here there are some other good reasons to stage your house if you decided to sell it:
Bring more people in
To stage a home for sale means maximizing your odds. It’s the numbers game – more people look at and like your house, better are your chances of success. By using staging methods, such as depersonalizing, you will make your property appealing to more potential buyers.
Get higher market price evaluation
The best time to stage a home for sale is before an agent shows up to assess your property. Being ready will demonstrate to the realtor that you are an informed home seller and he (or she) will put a better price on your property, as a staged home will “show” better and will be easier for them to market.
Attract best real estate agent
A real estate agent will assess the selling prospects of your dwelling versus the risk he takes to list it. His name is at stake and the costs of marketing your listing are substantial (both in time and money). The best looking properties will get the very best agents who will work harder to show them and will sell them sooner.
We are almost done. Last 3 reasons are in the next post. To learn more about staging or to stage with me visit my Interior Decoration website.
As I promised in my previous post (To Stage or Not To Stage), I figured out 9 prime reasons for Home Staging. Today we will talk about the first 3:
Get the money you want
If you are serious about getting the biggest bang for your buck, you need to make sure that the property’s best assets are put forward. Figures clearly show that staged homes sell for more money than comparable houses (a conservative estimate is between 2% and 10% more). A down-to-earth appraisal of staging’s effect is provided by HomeGain, an online resource for homebuyers and sellers: Their 2003 poll of 2,000 realtors found that staging usually costs from $212 to $1,089 and brings from $2,275 to $2,841 to a property’s selling price – a return of from two to 13 times the cost of staging (Not bad return for a month-long investment!). Stage a home for sale and you’ll see the difference in the way people (including agents) will react to it.
Cut down time on the market
Data are not easy to come by as they change with the market conditions, but according to statistics compiled by Stagedhomes.com, unstaged properties spent an average of 22 days on the market. Those staged by a professional spent an average of 11 days on the market.
Stand out from the crowd!
In a sluggish market, the buyers are kings (or queens) and you need every reasonable advantage you can find. If your house feels and looks attractive, the potential buyers will notice the difference and will want YOUR house.
In the next post we will talk about other reasons for home staging. To learn more about staging or to stage with me visit my Interior Decoration website.
Spring is coming… Some of us will soon start thinking about selling their houses. Should you stage your house before selling? Is it really worth spending effort, time and money on it or should you just call a real estate broker who will “assess” your house and suggest a price? After all, once the decision to sell has been made, you just want to get it over with as fast as possible, right?
Completely wrong!
Some factors are out of your control, such as the location of the property, sale price of similar homes in your neighborhood and today’s market conditions. But you certainly have a say in the “desirability” aspect of your property, i.e the way your property looks, feels and is perceived by the realtors and prospective buyers. And why is that essential? Well, we all know that first impressions make a huge difference in the way we perceive an individual, a thing or a service and, instinctively, the decision is made within the first 30 to 60 seconds on whether we’ll be “buying” and what price we assign to it. Once you know the home staging basics and stick to the rules, you increase the aesthetic value of your home and that will result in some real benefits!
In next posts I will describe some benefits of home staging. To learn more about staging or to stage with me visit my Interior Decoration website.
