In today’s tough real estate market, you’d be Phoenix karaoke to list your house for sale without staging it first. Most people, and I’m sorry to say, many professionals that work in real estate, don’t have a clue how staging could benefit them. Unfortunately, a lot of people really believe that staging a house for sale is unnecessary. Of course, if asked they would insist that they are big believers in home staging, but then will actually go and list a house without staging it, claiming that this house was immaculate and didn’t need to be staged. It’s a proven fact that home staging, also called real estate staging, is the art of preparing a home for sale.
When you stage a house, you’re enhancing a home’s appearance and emphasizing the features that buyers are looking for, thus, creating a feeling which helps the buyer develop emotional connections to the property. It also helps define vacant spaces through the use of strategic furniture and accessory placement. Staging is also a proven approach that maximizes your home’s appeal to the buyer and is a profitable and powerful marketing tool. For realtors with a cutting edge, staging is an extra value added service to offer at every listing presentation. For the seller of a house, staging will set you apart and give you the competitive edge over other homes listed for sale in their neighborhood. As a result, staging will shorten the time that your home is on the market. It really is a wise investment considering the return that you get. Staging also reduces the number of mortgage payments that the seller will have to make. Staging also helps a house sell fast and for top dollar. And here’s one that your realtor should be telling you, that the investment in staging is always less than any price reduction!
So, I ask, how could you not stage your house before you put it up for sale? But, it happens all the time, houses go on the market vacant or occupied not having that “wow” factor. And that hurts everybody in the long run. The seller doesn’t get top dollar, and as a result the realtor makes less money. I’ve seen many staged homes and none have stood out as much as the homes that have been staged by a San Diego stager, Tawni Oppenheim from Staged4Sale. The first thing that I noticed when entering one of her staged homes was all the finishing touches. The colors of the pillows just popped! The way she laid her throws just pulled my eyes in and every room was staged, not just the so called impact rooms. I called Tawni and asked her why she staged every room in the house that I previewed and she told me that since the seller was trying to sell the entire house that she believed that every room needed to be staged. That’s a pretty good philosophy for staging. And it turns out that it is, because most of the homes that she stages sell so fast, it’s just unbelievable. Tawni told me that she has staged homes that had been sitting on the market for over a year and after being staged they received multiple high offers during the first week.
Realtors should bring in a professional stager in on their listing presentation. It’s a realtor’s fiduciary responsibility to offer staging to the client right from the get go. And it’s a crying shame when a realtor refuses to offer staging to their client because they’re afraid that they may lose their listing, because they didn’t offer it in the beginning. Some realtors would rather recommend a substantial price reduction rather than recommend staging to a client. A good realtor will make sure that a house is staged before it is listed on the MLS. Sellers should keep this in mind when shopping for a realtor. During a listing presentation, the seller should ask the realtor if they believe in staging and if they intend to make sure that the seller’s house is professionally staged before it is listed. When it comes to selling your house, time is money.