If you are getting ready to list your home for sale the chances are that you have already read or heard a lot about home staging. But if you are selling in a hotter market – a seller’s market-, you might be wondering if you really need to invest the time, effort and money in home staging if it is likely that your home will sell quickly.
While it may seem like your property is going to fly off the market, in reality, unstaged homes in a seller’s market often go back on the market multiple times, at lower and lower values, as uncommitted buyers retract their offers after realizing they’re not really in love with your property.
The List vs The Love – What Really Sells a House
When wondering how to deal with your fickle buyers who show interest but then disappear, ask yourself how you would buy a house.
There are two major factors in choosing a new home that are known in the real estate industry as “The List” and “The Love”. The List is what the buyer thinks they want from a home and what they’d tell a real estate agent to find for them. The Love, on the other hand, is when the buyer starts imagining their new life in a home before they even count the bedrooms!
To sell your home, you want to do your best to appeal to both The List and The Love. While everything about the home should be as updated and polished as possible, what you really want to do is show your potential buyers what it’d be like if they already lived in the home. You want them to feel “at home” the moment they step through the door, and that’s where staging comes in. Buyers who are in love with a home will agree to higher prices, overlook minor flaws, and commit fully to buying your house without a second thought.
Home Staging Reveals the Human Side of a Home
Standing empty, a home looks like nothing more than walls, floors, and a few appliances. When touring an empty house, no emotional connection is ever established. Which is not a good thing.
All your buyers see are empty rooms, not a welcoming place to relax. Home staging completely changes that. With the addition of a few strategically chosen pieces of furniture and subtly neutral but targeted decor, you can transform those empty rooms into a cozy residence that buyers see as worth your asking price – and maybe even more.
A little applied interior decorating like updated wall paint, color-coordinated accents, and subtly inviting furniture arrangements make it clear that someone with style could live in the home you’re trying to sell.
The real magic, however, is in the little touches. A pair of martini glasses on the sun-drenched balcony, a bowl of fruit on the kitchen island, and a breakfast tray on the master bed leave the impression that a truly relaxed homeowner just stepped out… and that your buyers could step right into their comfortable life in your home easily.
Why Stage in a Seller’s Market?
When buyers are lining up at your door for showings, it can be easy to wonder if home staging is even worth the effort. Staging helps buyers to see your house not just as a residential property on the market, but as a home they will be happy in.
Buyers who fall in love with a house are nearly 30% more likely to be alright with minor issues with the inspection or appraisal and agree with your assessment of home value because they can see the charm and comfort that the property has to offer.
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