Does staging a house make a difference?

Are you thinking about making your home for sale soon? If you’re getting ready to put it on the market, you’ve probably heard or read a lot about property styling and home staging. However, if you are selling in a hotter market, such as exists during the current Australian real estate boom, you may be asking if you really need to spend the time, effort, and money on home staging if it is expected to be sold soon.

While current favorable market conditions may make it appear that your home will be sold quickly,  if you do not style your home in a seller’s market sometimes reappear on the market numerous times, at a lower and lower sale price, as uncommitted homebuyers withdraw their bids after discovering they aren’t truly in love with it after all. Working with a property stylist before you go on sale will prevent this and help ensure you get the price you are asking, and maybe even more.

What Really Sells a Property: The List vs The Love

In the real estate industry, ‘The List’ and ‘The Love’ are two significant considerations to consider when buying a new home. The Buyer’s List is a description of what the buyer believes they want in a home and what they would tell a real estate agent to look for. The Love, on the other hand, is when a buyer begins to see their new life in a home before counting the bedrooms!

If you want to have your house sold for top dollar – and who doesn’t – you should try to appeal to both ‘The List’ and ‘The Love’. While everything about the house should be as new and polished as possible, the actual goal is to show potential buyers what life would be like if they were currently living there.

You want people to feel “at home” the moment they walk in the door, and property styling may help with that. Those who fall in love with it will accept higher costs, overlook minor problems, and make a firm commitment to purchase your home without hesitation.

Property Styling reveals an empty home’s human side

A house is little more than walls, floors, and a few appliances when it is empty. There is no emotional connection formed when touring an empty place and it is very hard for buyers to imagine how their furniture might fit there, or what the rooms are even meant to be. Which is not a good thing.

Your buyers will only see those plain, empty rooms, not a welcoming, relaxing environment they will be able to call home for years to come. This is where property styling comes in. With a few strategically placed pieces of furniture and discreetly neutral but targeted design, you can turn those empty rooms into a welcoming home that buyers will consider worth your asking price – and possibly even more.

A little applied interior decoration, such as updated wall paint, color-coordinated accents, and subtly attractive furniture arrangements, demonstrates that the property you’re attempting to sell is suitable for someone with style.

The real magic, however, is found in the small details, as all the best property stylists know. A set of martini glasses on the sun-drenched balcony, a bowl of fruit on the kitchen island, a bunch of fresh flowers on a table, and a breakfast tray on the master bed give the impression that the homeowner has just stepped out… ensuring that homebuyers will feel like they will be able to simply step into their new home’s pleasant lifestyle. Which is exactly how you want them to feel!

Styling a house for sale to welcome everyone

If your home is for sale but is not empty, and still contains all your stuff, it will be a little harder for potential home buyers to see it as theirs. Property styling executed in occupied homes for sale helps sellers detach their emotions from their property and style and stage it in a neutral way that will appeal to as many people as possible as it makes a big difference to the look of the home.

Staging can help even a flawed home get a better sale price

It’s easy to wonder if styling a house is even worth the effort when buyers are lining up at your door for showings. Property Styling allows people to picture your home as more than just a listing, but as a place, they will love living in. Because they can appreciate the charm and comfort that the property has to offer, buyers who fall in love with it are approximately 30% more inclined to overlook minor faults with the inspection or appraisal and agree with your assessment of home worth.

Australian Property Stylist Directory

If you would like to get a Property Stylist to chat with you about how they can style a house for sale, then take a look at the comprehensive Directory of the Stylists nearest you.

Photography by Top Snap