Some homes just take a little more time to sell than others. This is particularly true for older homes which, fairly or unfairly, arouse perceptions of maintenance nightmares that linger in the imaginations of more than a few home buyers. But that doesn’t mean you need to commit to long and lengthy remodels before you sell. Sometimes it just means a few well through out facelifts to make your home feel “new” again.
The familiar adage “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is appropriately applied in real estate dealings. Surely, one person’s classic Victorian gingerbread dream home is another’s functionally obsolete money pit. Seasoned real estate pros know this intuitively, and come equipped tools that get such deals done. One of their most effective trade secrets is leveraging the advantages that come from staging a home.
Stage It
Staging has been proven to have a BIG effect on buyers – it’s simply the facts. According the National Association of REALTORS®, if a home is staged, 81% of buyers find it easier to visual a property as their future home, 46% are more willing to walk through if they viewed it online and 28% are willing to overlook other property flaws.
Staging is the act of prepping a house to get it ready for market. The objective of staging is to make a subject property more appealing to the widest possible audience of potential buyers. Much of what home staging is meant to accomplish is aimed at creating a psychological response in potential buyers.
Advanced staging methods focus on enhancing a home’s value by appealing to emotion. This is done by getting buyers to think of a particular property as a welcoming and attractive house that anyone would love to call home.
Depersonalize It
Home buying is an emotional process. Buyers are not always completely comfortable stepping into occupied territory. They don’t want to intrude into your living space, and want to imagine themselves already living there. This is also why sellers shouldn’t be anywhere near their property during a showing.
Their objective is to take a home that a family currently lives in, and convert it (psychologically) into neutral territory. Depersonalizing a property can influence buyers in a positive way. You do this by first removing family photos and other reminders of the family from the walls, and making a home as close to “move-in” condition as possible. All these ideas can subtly influence a buyer’s decision-making process.
Closets & Storage Space
Period homes commonly feature smaller closets which can be a disadvantage because everyone knows, you can never have too much closet space. When showing an older home, make bedroom closets appear larger by emptying them. Clutter control is something that should apply to the rest of the house as well. Empty space is desirable. The more of it that can be shown off, the more spacious a home will seem. Savvy sellers remove and store as much of their personal belongs as possible before ever showing a home.
Pay Attention To Curb Appeal
The curbside appeal of a home creates the vital first impression that sticks with potential home buyers who need to see themselves as future caretakers of a property, before they will bid on it. Older homes are marketed to emphasize their charm and stately character; therefore, the exterior appeal needs to reflect the same message.
Sometimes a fresh coat of paint, or a visit from professional landscaping in Salt Lake City is all that is needed to bring the exterior of an older home into conformity with potential buyer’s expectations.
The only thing more dismaying than finding a home for sale whose staging has been ignored, is finding one where the owners have spent considerable time, money, and energy on things that ultimately put buyers off. Knowing what matters and what pays out is the mark of a true real estate expert.
To find an expert near you, search on the First Team agent directory. With over 30 local Southern California offices, we’ve got a neighborhood specialist near you. Take a look online or reach out and we’ll do the finding for you.
Email us at clientservices@firstteam.com
Call us at 888-870-1142
This guest post was written by Brooke Chaplan, a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She loves the outdoors and spends most her time hiking, biking and gardening. For more information contact Brooke via Twitter @BrookeChaplan.
