What is staging??

I often forget that if you’re selling a home for the first time or if you haven’t worked with a Realtor who offers professional staging services, you may not know what I mean by “staging”.  A good realtor will certainly know some basic steps in decluttering, cleaning, and lighting.  A great stager helps decorate your home not only to look its best, but styled so that accessories and furnishings allow Buyers to imagine themselves in your home.  Staging helps attract the buyer and buyers agents that you and your agent are targeting.  If other listings competing with your home have Hawaiian or beach decor, we might want to see if we can style your home with a different theme and use the natural landscape to show a buyer what it is like to live in Hawaii.

If you imagine selling a home as if you’re selling a puppy or a dog, you’ll know that it’s probably better to give your pet a bath and clean their ears, eyes, breath, and paws.  A nice trim also works to make your adorable pet even more adorable. This is true if you’re going to a job interview.  You will want to bathe or shower, shave, and wear pressed clothes.  More often than not, I see young people going to a college or job interview in a suit.  They might normally run around the house in a t-shirt and shorts, but off to work they must go and so extra care goes into what color tie to wear (ha!), what suit to wear, and of course, stop by a barber a few days before to look tidy and groomed.

This is the same concept for your home.

When I refer to “staging”, I mean we will declutter, clean, polish and then add some magic tips to focus on best features of your home.  This could mean bringing in lighting, colors, or textures to make your home look “polished” and stand out amongst the other properties on the market.

An easy way to remember the word “staging” is by remembering an empty theater stage is just that: an empty stage.  Yet with lighting and props, a mood is created, the setting is set and the audience is taken to another time and place.

 

 

Call me if you’re thinking of selling and aren’t sure what to do, what to get rid of, or whether to refresh, renovate or remodel prior to selling.