As real estate agents, our goal is to help you obtain the maximum value for your home. We prepare every home for market using our Home Focus process, where we identify a home’s unique attributes, make recommendations on improvements that will significantly increase value, then front the cost until closing.
We recently had clients who were downsizing. Their home was well maintained, updated, and expertly decorated from top to bottom. It was perfection. Yet, in our Home Focus report, we recommended using our stager. The clients were curious how a home curated by professional interior decorators could benefit from staging? Wouldn’t staging make it look empty and generic?
We asked if we could address their concerns after our first client tour. We viewed three homes they were interested in buying. At our feedback session they reflected on “the one with the great flow for entertaining”. They could imagine hosting dinner parties and family gatherings there. The second had “great windows, with lots of light”. They discussed which room would work best as an office or guest bedroom. The third they called the “artist’s home” because it was filled with large, striking bold paintings. They liked the art and reflected on the owner’s eclectic taste, yet mentioned little else, even though it met their needs. The first two homes had been staged, the third had not.
This served as a great opportunity to discuss the benefits of staging. Most homes are beautiful. Owners take great care in creating environments that are comfortable and reflect their personalities, but buyers need to be able to “see” their life in your home, not yours. Stagers create a space that allows potential buyers to paint their own canvas, rather than be distracted by the personalities or traits of its current owners. Staging helps buyers create an emotional connection with a home, which is critical to the home-buying process.
According to a 2021 survey by the National Association of Realtors, 18% of sellers’ agents said home staging increased the dollar value of a residence between 6% and 10%. Thirty-one percent of agents also reported that home staging greatly decreased the amount of time a home spent on the market.
Staging is a useful tool in maximizing the value of a home. Buyers don’t need to be impressed by what the previous owners have done with a home. Instead, they need to see the potential that the home offers them as new owners. Homes that are presented in this manner sell for more money and in less time.
After viewing homes that were staged and un-staged, our clients understood the importance of creating a canvas, rather than a finished masterpiece. Stagers were called, adjustments were made, and their home sold quickly.
If you would like to learn more about our Home Focus program, contact us today!
