Sell Better in 2018: The Science and Art of Home Staging

By Victoria Lim

In the past, home sellers were told to tidy up, mow the lawn and perhaps do a few modifications; however, the current dog-eat-dog real estate market now demands a more hardball approach, and that's where home staging comes in.

Staging a home is a crucial selling point when marketing a house. Studies show that investment for staging takes 1 - 3 percent of the home’s requested price, while on average, it brings in an 8 - 10 percent return on investment. Indeed, effective home staging is more than just cleaning up. As a matter of fact, it is a blend of science and art, creativity and psychology. It contemplates how to compose a great looking home. It suitably demonstrates the capacity of a place. The goal of home staging is to provoke potential buyers to feel like they own a home as lovely as the one they're in. The outcome can be a flying sale at a greater price.

Now that you have made the decision to sell your home, you need to view your home as merchandise that has to be sold at its absolute potential. You need to arrange the interior, as well as the exterior, with an eye on selling your home with the extensive appeal to prospective buyers.

The psychology of human behavior combined with the artistry of interior design results in a quicker, more profitable home sale. For instance, the personal items you treasure in your house—that make it feel like home to you—may not have the same impact on potential buyers. In fact, they could make them feel out of place. And this is where the home staging science comes in.

To provoke homebuyers to feel like they own a neatly arranged house, professional home stagers work to counteract this negative emotion. Here are some ways to showcase a property at its best:

Never Stage a Flawless Home

The aim of home staging is never to design a flawless home. Why? No two homebuyers have precisely the same tastes. Rather, the goal of home staging should be to create a tasteful, neutral setting that exhibits the potential of the home, which buyers would instantly visualize as their home.

Eliminate the Clutter

Clearly, the room size doesn't vary depending on what's inside; however, clutter certainly does give an impression that a room seems tinier. That being said, you should eliminate clutter, as well as arrange what's left behind to make the rooms look decent enough to display. The first impression is everything, and a house free of clutter seems considerably larger.

Roll on a Fresh Coat of Paint

One of the most economical ways to make your home show well is a fresh coat of paint on your interior walls. You should opt for neutral colors, such as warm beige or pale green. Paint can also work miracles on old woodwork. Simply putting on some paint has the potential to immediately revive your kitchen and make it look more attractive to buyers.

Picking Art

Buying art for the home you live in is very different from choosing the art for staging a home. Selecting art for your walls is an individual choice that mirrors your personal tastes and needs to match the decor. When picking art for home staging, you're not picking art for yourself, but art that would accommodate your buyer. Since you have no idea who that buyer is and what their tastes may be, the art should be less eye-catching and have a broader appeal.

Curb Appeal

Your curb appeal objective for the outside of your home is the same uncluttered embellishing that you want indoors. The absence of tidiness and allure can be worth several thousand dollars, and probably months on the real estate market. Begin the process of staging your home's exterior by creating a list of things that need attention. Additionally, enhance the exterior with several decorative tools. For instance, one thing you can do is arch your patio with retractable folding arm awnings in a vivid color to add beauty to the exterior.

Home staging helps a home look and feel balanced to a potential buyer through an artistic science. With the right amount of soft and hard furnishings and accessories placed in particular sections of the house, staging displays space or emphasizes features of a room and bursts of color to make it more inviting and memorable.

One chance is all you have to make a first impression on a buyer. Keep in mind that the first price reduction is always higher than the bottom line in staging.