I admit I was skeptical at first about home staging. I mean, can’t everyone walk into a space and visualize the appropriate furniture?! Nope.
The truth is that only 1 out of 10 people can do this. As a designer I have been trained to do this and when my husband and I listed our home for sale I asked our agent if she felt staging helped when selling homes. She confirmed that it in fact does. I was still feeling apprehensive, but I trusted her opinion.
Our selling situation was unique in that we had a time crunch to list our house due to a quick job relocation, so I got right to work. At this time I had watched enough HGTV shows that thought I knew enough about staging and all the house needed was to be clean, decluttered, and depersonalized. Since we began the packing process early we took down EVERYTHING from the walls so we could patch holes and touch up paint (I later regretted taking down artwork and generic decor). I styled our rooms and cleared out all personalized items.
Our house was listed and went under contract within 15 days! What a relief that was with such a quick turnover. It was at that moment that I became a believer.
Feedback from the open house we held confirmed what our agent told me about staging and she thought our house was staged wonderfully. Staging and receiving multiple offers and ultimately selling our home for more than asking price is what lead me to pursue Home Staging as a career. I want to share with other homeowners what I have learned along the way and how statistically spending 1-3% of the value of your home on home staging & upgrades will typically net you a 10% return in the sale!
This was my Foyer. See how there is no personality in this space because I removed all of the artwork from the walls? Don’t do what I did! Do remove things like the nightlight plugged into the wall, add greenery, add generic artwork or a mirror. Make the entryway beautiful to create a lasting first impression.
I’m not here to tell you that if you stage your house it will in fact sell as quickly as mine did. There are a lot of external factors involved such as housing market trends, economy, the season of the year you are trying to sell, comparable homes in your specific area, and most importantly how realistic your listing agent prices your home.
What I can give to you are statistics from the NAR Profile of Home Staging Report:
Almost half (44%) of Seller’s Agents believe the staging increased the value of the home 6-20%.
Over 83% of buyers find it “easier to visualize the property as their future home” when it’s staged.
Absolutely NO (0%) of Seller’s Agents believe that staging has a negative impact on the value of the home.
After becoming an HSR Certified Home Stager, I now know the art form behind what true home staging consists of. I look at my MLS photos and critique where I could have improved upon our rooms. Remember earlier I said I regretted removing everything from our walls? This may be my overly critical side coming out, but I do now fully understand a buyers mentality. Buyers need to see furniture and accessories strategically placed to visualize living in a home.
Example of emotional connection vignette: This stylized chaise makes you want to grab a soft blanket and curl up with a good book. Source
Ninety percent of potential buyers are viewing homes online first and making a decision based on photos alone whether or not they want to even view the home in person. There is great power in professional photography! Once they decide to walk through a home, they are making an opinionated decision within the first 15 seconds. They cannot overlook things that need repairs. Carpet stains, cracked tiles, squeaky door hinges, outdated bathroom fixtures or even dirty baseboards are all things that scream RED FLAGS. A buyer’s mental to-do list will only grow bigger and bigger. A buyer cannot look past other people’s clutter. When they see this, they immediately think “this home doesn’t have enough storage space”. Don’t leave money on the table by not doing the hard work and fully preparing your home for sale.
Often sellers think that they can “stage their own home”. True they can, however, sellers do not have the ability to be objective of their homes. Until a seller can truly disassociate and view the home as a product, they won’t be successful with staging it to sell.
Benefits of working with a Professional Home Stager:
A professional Home Stager will be able to guide a seller on how to appropriately arrange furniture and accessories to fit the buyer demographic.
A professional home stager will implement techniques to evoke an emotional connection with the home.
A buyer needs to be driven emotionally in order to feel that “this house is the one”. That emotional tie will be the icing on the cake and lead to a buyer paying above list price because they will feel that they cannot live without purchasing that specific home.
I have been proven wrong. Cleaning, decluttering, and depersonalizing a home are not enough. Sellers have to invoke a lived-in feeling that a buyer will fall in love with. Staging works. Allow Lenko Design to guide you through the process.
Our expertise, your success.
- Tiffani Michalenko
HSR Certified Home Stager & Expert eDesigner
