So what is home staging?
A lot of sellers have no idea what home staging is or why they would need it. Home staging originated in the 1970’s but has become increasingly popular in the last 5 to 7 years. According to Wikipedia home staging is defined as,
“the act of preparing a private residence for sale in the real estate marketplace. The goal of staging is to make a home appealing to the highest number of potential buyers, thereby selling a property more swiftly and for more money. Staging techniques focus on improving a property’s appeal by transforming it into a welcoming, attractive product that anyone might want.”
At Rocky Mountain Home Staging, we consider everything that affects how the interior and exterior of your home looks to be home staging.
A full staging or property consult will address: clutter, cleanliness, undesirable smells, confusing rooms or layouts, paint colors, condition of the flooring, maintenance items, half-finished home improvement projects, furniture arrangement, furniture rental when needed, accessorizing, landscaping, curb appeal, the home’s exterior, window treatments, and suggested updates. A home stager seeks to maximize the positives and minimize the negatives as well as to draw attention away from the current homeowners possessions, photos, decor or collections and towards the selling features of the home.
Home staging is so much more than renting a few items of furniture, rearranging yours, or putting some plastic plants and wine glasses out.
Home staging is not decorating, it is part marketing, part design psychology and part business strategy all designed to meet your goals as a seller. A good home stager will always evaluate who the target buyer of your home is and create scenes that will appeal to them on an emotional level. Buyers must be able to imagine themselves living in your home before they will make an offer. When they fall in love with your home they are willing to pay more.
In today’s real estate market home staging is a requirement for every homeowner who wants to transact their property quickly and for the highest amount of money.
Home staging has nothing to do with how good of a decorator you are or how nice your house looks; it has everything to do with how your home is packaged as a product and how competitive it is in the marketplace.