Excerpt from Want to sell your home fast? Put it on Stage. The Christian Science Monitor – CSMonitor.com. April 29, 2010.
Selling your home is a stressful life transition. And, it is often undertaken due to other highly stressful and emotional upheavals such as job loss, divorce, a death in the family or financial turmoil. Even when the sale of your home reflects an opportunity to move up to a larger home or to downsize to a simpler life, it can still be traumatic. It’s hard to say goodbye to a place that you have called home. It’s hard to allow strangers in to rifle through your cabinets and closets, to critique your décor and choice of paint colors. It’s even harder to prepare for showing after showing and not receive any decent offers, especially when you have kids or pets or you work from home.At Rocky Mountain Home Staging, we know exactly how you feel. We’ve been there. We’ve cleaned for 4 separate showings for a family that ultimately offered us 80% of our asking price. AS IF! We’ve hastily scrubbed dog vomit off the rug minutes before a showing and shoved all the clutter in the dryer. We’ve gotten excited about selling and then had the buyer lose their financing. We’ve lost deals on inspection or because the buyer changed her mind. Unfortunately these can be the realities of selling your home. They don’t have to be though.
It’s true that no one can predict or control the real estate market. Luckily you can do something about two of the biggest components of selling; condition and how your home “feels” to buyers. When your house shows beautifully, is well maintained, WOW’s buyers and is priced correctly the whole process goes much more smoothly. When it’s the best of its price range a lot of the aforementioned challenges disappear. In fact, if you can help buyers to fall in love with your home you will be in great shape not only when it comes to offers and contracts but also when it comes to inspection resolution and appraisal.
As soon as you put your house on the market it becomes a product.
It’s not your house anymore, it’s a product that buyers are going to compare with all of the others out there. Selling in today’s real estate economy is a merchandising competition and the most prepared… win. Pricing correctly and looking better than other houses in your price range are requirements if you want to sell quickly and for top dollar.
You may think that you don’t need the help of a professional home stager.
After all, your house is spotless. You’ve decluttered and organized. Everyone always compliments your home when they visit. Your décor is beautiful. Plus, you watch HGTV and already know what to do. The thing is, though, staging your home is a lot more involved than just making it pretty. It goes way beyond simple decluttering and cleaning and putting out some plants and candles. Staging has nothing to do with how good of a decorator you are or how “pretty” your house is. It is a science and an art –it is systematic marketing designed to create a specific emotional response in exactly the right buyer.Most sellers don’t really know how to WOW their target buyer. And many focus on the wrong things and needlessly waste time and money. A good professional home stager has invested thousands of hours studying and honing this craft.
A 2010 study by the Real Estate Staging Association (RESA) studied 97 homes that were were listed without being staged. None of them sold. After an average of 181 days on market these same homes were staged and re-listed. All of them sold. The average days on market was 60 days for these same houses after staging for a total of 241 days. That’s 67% faster (maybe even more since we have no idea when they would have sold without staging). And houses that hit the market staged from the get-go fared even better. RESA also studied 184 homes that were staged before listing. These sold on average in 35 days after staging. Homes that are staged prior to listing sell 85% faster. For even more statistics and studies and expert opinions on the benefits of staging, visit our Why Stage page.
You may think that you can’t afford a home stager, that it’s too expensive.
When you start to add up the cost of additional months on the market or price adjustments, staging seems a lot more reasonable. A complete consult that you implement yourself is less than $500 and the national average for a home staging is from $1750 to $3750, compare that to a $5,000 or $10,000 price reduction, not to mention your holding costs every month. Wowing buyers gives you the absolute best chance of selling your home in 30 days or less. And homes that sell in the first month get the most money.
And finally, you may think that in order for your house to look its best that you must make a lot of expensive upgrades.
This couldn’t be further from the truth, in fact, major upgrades are generally not a good idea when you are about to sell. There are many things that don’t cost a lot of money that can get you a great return. These are generally low cost fixes. Think replacing light fixtures or hardware or painting rather than replacing cabinets or putting in a new kitchen. Of course, what you should do to prepare your home absolutely hinges on your price point, competition and target buyer. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to selling.
If you are serious about selling and focused on results contact Rocky Mountain Home Staging today at 720-295-0720 or visit our services page to learn more about what we offer. Selling your home doesn’t have to be difficult.
Still wondering if home staging is right for you?
Our clients are committed to selling their property and they are willing to do what it takes to make that happen. It might seem obvious to mention this but we have found that if the seller isn’t ready to sell, even the best realtor or stager cannot sell the property.
Can you relate to any of these common scenarios that our clients face?
“We are about to put our house on the market and we’ve seen houses nearby sit and sit. We need to sell our home quickly. We can’t afford to sit on the market.”
“We need to sell our home. We know some things need updated but we don’t have the money or time to put into fixing it up. We need to sell it just as it is.”
“We know that most sellers spend some money getting ready to sell and we want to be competitive. We want to know which updates are worth making.”
“We put our house on the market months ago. When we bought it we loved it so much, we put an offer in the very first day. We are completely mystified as to why our home is not selling.”
“Our house is priced competitively and is very nice. Still we aren’t getting any offers. Or the offers we are getting are way below asking.”
“Other homes are selling and ours isn’t. We’ve even dropped our price a few times and still nothing. We are completely bewildered.”
“We’ve already moved and our vacant house is sitting and sitting.”
“I am a real estate investor, and I need to move this house fast. Every day that the house doesn’t sell increases my holding costs.”
Rocky Mountain Home Staging works with people who are ready for results.
Our clients have the following traits in common, if any of the following statements sound like you then we are likely a good fit.
- You are ready to get your house sold.
- You are serious about selling and are willing to do what it takes.
- You want to get the maximum amount of money from the sale of your home.
- You are willing and able to invest a minimum of a few hundred dollars.
- You are interested in maximizing your return on investment.
- You realize that the real estate market has changed over the last few years and that selling must be approached differently.
- You are interested in quality, services, results and value rather than just the cheapest price.
- You are open to suggestions from a neutral third party who has no agenda but helping you sell faster.
We can help you position your property competitively and create an environment that buyers fall in love with. Creating an emotional connection with buyers will get you offers.
Proactive homeowners hire us when they are already on the market or they are about to list their home and want to get it ready. When the house is currently on the market, time is of the essence. It’s never too late to get started. Before you adjust your price, consider calling in a professional home stager.
If your house hasn’t hit the market yet, it is a wise move to invest a few hundred dollars on a professional home staging consult. Homes that sell in the first 30 days get the highest price. There are buyers out there right now who are looking for a home like yours, in your price range. They have likely looked at a lot of other properties, they just haven’t found THE HOUSE yet. They will be excited when your listing hits the MLS (if you have good photos that is) and they will come to see it. How will you compare? Will you be in it to win it? Will your home stand out? Will your home look better than the competition? Will your home look so good that the buyers will make an offer that day?
It is better to wait a few weeks and hit the market with a house that is fabulous than to rush to get it listed when it isn’t ready because you will lose those pre-qualified buyers who are waiting for YOUR house.
This pool of buyers is your best chance of getting your house sold quickly. A professional home stager is a small investment for a potentially huge return. Even if you plan to do all the work yourself it is a great investment to bring in a certified professional for a full consult. We will give you a comprehensive list of everything you need to do. Or, if you prefer, we can handle the entire transformation from start to finish.
Rocky Mountain Home Staging can help you sell your property.
We stage houses that aren’t listed yet and properties that have been on the market for a while. We work on large houses and small houses, apartments and townhomes. We provide staging services for occupied homes, vacant properties and rental properties.
If you are serious about selling and ready to get out from under your house…if your home has languished on the market for months…if you are just getting ready to put your house on the market…Call us today at 720-295-0720 send us an email or visit our comprehensive list of services to learn more about how we can help you.
We can help you sell your home in the next 30 days for full market value.
Rocky Mountain Home Staging works with real estate agents, home sellers and investors to help sell their properties in the Colorado towns of Boulder, Broomfield, Superior, Louisville, Lafayette, Niwot, Nederland, Lyons, Longmont, Erie and Westminster.