| Home staging has been around for decades,
even though it’s only come of age in recent years.
Still, many people struggle to understand what it
is, and how it works. |
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| Home staging is a real estate marketing
tool that gives a property a competitive edge. It’s
designed to keep your property top-of-mind among
buyers – despite the other properties they’ve seen
online, or on foot. Increasingly, real estate representatives
are offering sellers a complementary staging consultation. |
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| Stagers are trained to look at your
property from the buyers’ point-of-view. In recommending
how to best prepare your home for sale, stagers
know a property has less than 8 minutes to make
a lasting buyer impression. |
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| Different from decorating |
| Decorating adds elements to your personal
living space to express your tastes and how you
live. Staging does the opposite - it gives buyers
the jump start on picturing themselves in your space. |
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| In a soft real estate market, staged
properties sell quicker; in a hot market, they often
also sell for more. Staging your home for sale,
involves these consecutive steps: |
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| The consultation |
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The stager comes to your home, spends
time in every room, makes detailed notes and takes
pictures. The stager will assess a home’s exterior
too, paying close attention to night-time as well
as daytime drive-by appeal. |
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Stagers keep a keen eye on the home’s best
features, the detractors, room function, cleanliness,
organization, and lighting. The consultation can
take up to 3 hours, sometimes more. Stagers typically
present their key recommendations in writing during
the initial consultation – and can follow-up
with more detailed notes thereafter. |
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| Home readying |
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The next step is preparing the property
for sale – this work can be done by home owners
themselves, or facilitated by the stager. The focus
is on de-cluttering and de-personalizing, so nothing
detracts from the ability to show off the space’s
best features. |
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The staging consultation gives you the roadmap
on what to remove, clean, repair or replace. The
intent is to instantly convey the home is move-in
ready. |
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Stagers often provide a list of trades and service
professionals to contact, if you’re too busy or
not up to doing the work yourself. The stager can
also offer a colour scheme if painting is required,
along with furniture placement. The stager should
give you a comprehensive quote to support you through
this phase, and lead the final stage – showcasing. |
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| Showcasing |
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While preparing the home is about
showing off your physical space, the last stage
– showcasing – reinforces that the home will offer
buyers their desired lifestyle. |
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Stagers start by shopping your own home for the
right accessories, art and furnishings for each
room. To give your home a contemporary edge, they
may need to bring in certain items on a rental basis.
This avoids having to purchase them - unless of
course you’d like to invest to contemporize your
new space. |
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The importance of making your home picture perfect
should not be overlooked. Buyers today use the web
as a key decision-making tool on whether to take
the time to go out and see a property. |
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