No longer is it enough to just slap a “for sale” sign in the yard, clean thoroughly, and bake cookies so the house smells good. Back in the day, it made sense for an empty house to be on the market. You toured it, imagined your belongings in it, and bought it.
Today, buyers have been conditioned by cable house renovation shows and the written word to expect certain things. The presence in the empty house of furnishings, a painting or other wall decoration, and perhaps a book on a coffee table gives sellers a greater return on investment. Buyers are seeing what they’ve been instructed to see. Therefore, houses sell quicker and at a larger sale price.
You can see how staging a home is both mental and emotional. If the curb appeal reaches out to potential buyers, then they’re primed to see the inside. Buyers expect to be pleased, and they expect a good experience. When they get it, they have an easier time envisioning the property as their own.
What Staging Actually Means
Staging a house isn’t much different from staging a play. The depth of the production must be clearly seen by the audience. The background must tie into the play. They both must evoke thought and emotion in the audience.
A staged home must have something in it to measure its depth, tell buyers what the house is all about, and evoke a pleasant emotion. The house is clean and empty, now is the perfect time to paint the walls and either refinish or polish the floors. Home staging is important because it furnishes the background of the house.
Home staging is about choosing one or two pieces of attractive furniture for each room. A painting on the wall gives buyers a pop of color to show the possibilities of the room. Fresh flowers give buyers color, shape, texture, and scent to help form a pleasant experience. They envision how their belongings will fit, how to make the rooms “theirs.”
Why Home Staging Is Important
According to The Stage Team, a company that does home staging in Katy, TX, staging a house for sale is becoming more and more necessary in today’s competitive real estate market. Everything today is about psychology. Don’t believe us? Walkthrough a grocery store or a department store. Color, texture, scent, shape, and a dozen other things are arranged so that buyers are sunk before they take the first step through the door.
Sales are about making sure buyers have experience. Since most buying journeys begin online, this is more important than ever. Pictures of staged homes that touch buyers’ emotions is vital. Their brain will kick in and tell them why they need to see this house.
Home staging furthers the art of selling a house. Buyers go house-hunting looking for that perfect property. They only know they need two extra bedrooms, an extra bathroom, and plenty of yard space for the dogs and the kids. What they don’t look for is your house.
Technically, house hunting is about someone else’s house. What appealed to you when you bought the house won’t speak to someone else. You’re looking for different things. The importance of home staging lies in neutrality. It lies in imagination. These are the basis of home staging.
The Nitty Gritty Of Home Staging
The family pictures on the walls, the paintings, quirky light fixtures, the collections on shelves, and the colors on the walls, window treatments, and furnishings all tell the story of you. Your house is, thanks to a description by George Carlin, a box holding your stuff.
Buyers want to find the perfect box for their stuff. They seek neutrality. Later on, they’ll paint the walls in the colors they love. Buyers seek imagination. Are there enough rooms to turn one of them into a home office, a home gym, a media room, or playroom for the kids?
The importance of home staging lies in possibilities. If the neutrality and imagination are there, then the possibilities are endless. Perhaps one of the rooms can be a butler’s pantry. Maybe the master bath could be turned into a spa experience. Check out the deck/patio. An outdoor room could go there. Home staging is about turning your house into an experience into which a buyer can’t wait to leap.
Home staging is about the experience. When home staging gives buyers the house of their dreams, does it matter so much that the staging is psychological? Of course not, because the staging just highlighted the dream. The sellers got a little more selling price than they bargained on, which allows them to have a bigger, better dream. Home staging is a win-win.
