Selling a home is never simple. It asks for time, energy, objectivity and expertise, along with a team of professionals to guide you through each step. Fortunately, there are specialists for every part of the process: real estate agents, title companies, inspectors, appraisers and home stagers.
So what is a home stager? A home stager is an expert at decorating and preparing a home to sell, presenting each room so buyers can see the house at its best.
What Is Home Staging?
Audra Slinkey, President of the Home Staging Resource, describes home staging as the professional preparation of a home for sale using limited funds, practical creativity and genuine expertise. The aim is a home that is far more appealing to buyers, one that sells quickly and for more money. Seen this way, staging becomes an investment for the seller, returned through stronger sale proceeds.
Understanding Your Buyer
To sell any product well, you first have to understand your buyer. A buyer moves from the logical decision to visit your home to the emotional decision to place an offer, and the way your home is presented shapes that journey.
The good news is that you can rise above the competition. Each room in the home, and each photo of it online, is a chance to make a lasting impression. Here are a few simple ideas to keep in mind as you stage and sell.
The Seller Has the Marketing Advantage
- A perfectly targeted audience. Most buyers who walk through your door are good prospects. They are actively shopping for what you are selling, and your home should already meet their general criteria.
- A captive audience. Once a buyer is inside, they will likely spend up to an hour studying the home.
- Many chances to make a first impression. Every room offers dozens of first impressions, and with each detail the buyer moves from looking at a house to considering whether it could be their home.
Homes Are Purchased on Emotion
Ultimately, the goal is for a buyer to walk through and think, “This is it. This is the one.” To get there, Michele uses her eight-step FEEL HOME process to depersonalize the space and create emotional connection points, the details that invite a buyer to imagine how life could unfold for their family in your house. The steps begin with first impressions and eliminating clutter, and close with modernizing and those emotional connection points that create the wow factor.
As with most first impressions, buyers spend the rest of the showing looking for reasons to confirm what they felt at the door. That is why the studio works to make the first impression a positive one in every room.
When a house feels like home, buyers begin to reprioritize their list. Michele accentuates the positive and downplays the negative in each room, then creates warmth, scale, harmony and cohesion using the decorating techniques of the trade.
Your Free Staging Guide
For more ideas, Michele's free Staging Guide gathers her tips, room checklists and staging statistics in one place. It is a helpful companion whether you are preparing to list soon or simply planning ahead.
By Michele Riley · Mia Bella Designs
