Interior Design
Home staging, is this something that the average home seller should even be bothering with? Well, if you are going through the process of selling the property yourself, I would say, YES! I am going to be giving you four reasons on why you should be staging your home to get the most money possible for your property.
Reason Number 1: You WILL Make More Money
I know that this reason seems like common sense to most people, but think about it, who wants to come and look at a home that is cluttered and, overall, does not look appealing. If that person that does come and look at this cluttered mess and places an offer to you, I can guarantee that it will be a low ball offer. A survey that was done by the Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corporation has shown that homes that are staged well spent half the time on the market than non-staged homes and sold for an average of 6 percent above the asking price. That extra 6 percent means more money in your profit, which makes you, a very happy seller.
Reason Number 2: You WILL Sell Your Home Faster
If your home sell quicker, than that means that will still make more money as well. The faster your home sells, the less holding costs that you are going to have to continue to pay while you are still in it. These costs include, but are not limited to: mortgage payment, property taxes, utility bills (water, electric, sewage, etc.), and HOA fees (if you live in an HOA). These are just some of the costs that you will have to continue to pay as your house sits on the market waiting for the right buyer to come along and buy it. The National Association of Realtor survey has found that the longer that a home stays on the market, the more the price tends to drop as buyers begin to think that something may be wrong with the property. This again, means less money in your pocket.
Reason Number 3: You Will Make Your Money Back
Staging a property can cost money. This depends on several factors such as:
– How much of the home do you want to stage?
– Are you going to still be living in the home while you are trying to sell it?
– Do you even have a budget for staging the home? (I recommend that you at least budget a couple of hundred dollars to cover the main traffic areas).
– What is your target buyer?
These are just a few factors that you need to consider when you looking at staging your home. The bottom line is though, you will get that money that you spent back in increased profits from the sale of the home. The National Association of Realtors survey has also found that the average budget used on a staged home is between 1% and 3% of the asking price of the property with a return on investment of between 8% and 10%. That, again, is more money that goes to you, the home owner.
Reason Number 4: Your Online Photos Will Stand Out
Once the property is staged well, you will need to take photos of it and post it online to let the world know that you are selling your home. A great place to post those photos is Postlets. Postlets is property syndication site that allows you to upload the photos of your home and arrange them on a professional looking flyer. Also, it will post your property to multiple listing sites which will allow people to see your home. This will give your property the greatest exposure and help it sell quickly. All of that work will be for nothing though, if there are not good, clean photos of your property, which is why you need to stage it. The National Association of Realtors has found that 90% of home buyers start online for their search of properties. If your house does not stand out among the myriad of other properties that are vying for their attention, it will just sit there.
Staging can be a daunting task, and there are companies that will stage your property for a price. What that price is depends on the company.