You’ve decided to place your house on the market to sell and you know it needs some updating, but you think that the buyer will come in and make allowances for the changes that it needs. You may be leery of spending money on Home Staging or updating. You may think that the buyer will want to choose their own fixtures and colors, so you’ll leave the property as it is.
Staging your home before the pictures are taken for the MLS shows your home at its best. If a buyer is not impressed with your home, they will move on to the next listing and you will have fewer showings and more days on the market. We all know that there’s not a shortage of homes for a buyer to consider. Why send them down the street?
The longer your home sits on the market, the longer you will have the carrying cost of your home; mortgage, insurance, utilities. The National Association of Realtors survey found that the longer a home stays on the market, the further below list price it drops. The Real Estate Staging Association (RESA) study shows occupied homes that are staged, listed and sold, spend 89% less time on the market than and un-staged home. Vacant homes that have been staged, listed and sold spend 85% less time on the market than an un-staged home.
Only 10%of buyers can visualize how a room would look furnished and accessorized
This is most important for vacant homes. If your home doesn’t feel inviting and looks too small or too big for the buyer’s furniture, they will not see the potential of the home and move on to the next one. Whenever I used to show vacant houses to a buyer, they would never stay in a room long enough to become emotionally connected. Sometimes they would only stick their head in the door of a room and walk away, without ever taking the time to linger and imagine their family in the space. You want them to imagine their family enjoying the fireplace or having breakfast every morning at the breakfast bar. If you don’t have anything for them to connect with, you lose the potential to sell.
If you find the task more than you can wrap your head around, give me a call and let’s discuss the service that will benefit you the most. Check out my website to see some before and after photos.