You CAN Home Stage Your Property… Even if  They Don’t Get It!

Since I have been home staging and redesigning properties here in WA, I now notice a new trend taking place… the number of calls we get directly from home sellers, prior to their hiring of a Realtor, is on a sharp rise.

But the odd thing is that while staging has been out there now for a number of years, it still AMAZES me how snubbed, ignored, and misunderstood the staging message has been by the Realtor community in general. For what ever reason, many Realtors seem to have shut down any possibility to understand any opportunity staging offers, perhaps for insecurity reasons.

Why aren’t Realtors getting it? Well, I have a feeling that what many Realtors think staging is… actually is not all that it is.

• If a seller goes on-line and finds a list of “10 Things You Can Do To Ready Your Home for Selling” and does as it advises… THAT IS home staging.

• If seller’s Realtor then comes to look at the home and directs them to do 10 more things, that better readies their property for selling, and they do those things… THAT IS home staging.

• If a Stager is hired and they find and additional 10 MORE things for the seller to attend to and the seller and/or the Stager do them… THAT IS home staging.

Just as selling a house does NOT always require a Realtor, staging a house does NOT always require a Stager. However, home sellers who have worked with a good and reputable Home Stager have learned that we do see more issues that work against the homes sale and offer more creative ideas and solutions to ready/package/market a home for selling in ways they never considered.

First, and most often, the service a Stager does is give advice. We guide, direct and counsel home sellers as to what they can do to BEST to prepare their property for selling. A Home Stager can also coach sellers on how to quickly, easily and inexpensively accomplish and address that which can be done to help make the home more appealing.

Consulting services from good Stagers are, in some markets, less than $150. If needed, Stagers can come in and help do some of the things that need to be done to prepare the home for selling… including “setting” the interior space.

NOTE:  Information is power. The more you and your Realtor knows and understands what home staging does and does NOT do and when to use our services , the more empowered you both are.

It’s a WIN-WIN situation all around.

So don’t let the words “staging” or “Stager”  or “Home Styling” trip you up. While these words are relatively new, what we advise has been given as advice in real estate sales for year.

Realtor’s, don’t get left behind, Home Staging is here to stay and is growing in popularity every year. it is HUGE business in NSW, Victoria and Queensland and starting to take off in sleepy WA now.

All that has really changed is that there is an entire INDUSTRY now committed to understanding the intricacies of how a home can be best merchandised, presented and marketed as a product so that it entices MORE potential buyers to buy.

Here are some TIPS FOR DETERMINING PROPERTY VALUES :

A Sellers Property Market Value is NOT based on:

-What is invested in the property,

-What they need to get out of the property,

-What it is appraised for,

-What the neighbour’s property sold for,

-What the tax office says its worth,

-What it is insured for,

-Personal memories and treasures,

-The prices of homes the seller is moving to,

TRUE Property Market Values ARE based on:

TODAY’S PRICE which is what the buyer is willing or prepared  to pay.     

And… TODAY’S PRICE is based on these SEVEN  important points:

1. Today’s real estate market,

2.Today’s market competition,

3.Today’s financing options,

4.Today’s economic conditions,

5.A buyer’s perception of the property’s condition,

6.Location, Location, Location of the property,

7.Normal marketing time.

Sellers CAN control the following:

 -The price of the property that they ask for,

-The condition of the property (Home Stage your property!)

-Access to the property.

Sellers CAN NOT Control the following:

 -Market conditions,

-The motivation of their competition,

-The overall value (as described above)

Understanding Your Prospective Buyers:

• 9 out of 10 Australian Buyers are doing their preliminary house hunting online (90% of potential buyers)

• Buyers cannot see past your clutter, mess and untidiness, in fact only 10%, can actually visualise and see the proposed potential of the residential property or identify what the room’s actual function is.

• Most buyers today  are “time poor” working full-time and trying to juggle the hustle and bustle of everyday life so when shopping for a home online, they are looking for homes that are ‘move-in ready’ with no “extra” work required.

• Time is money, so clean, neat, prim & polished properties that are professionally styled and arranged and well-presented get the most buyer traffic through them, resulting in the property selling faster and in some cases achieving more than the expected asking price.

• 40% of an Australian buyer’s income is now made up of mortgage repayments, so buyers are naturally more critical of flaws and imperfections and will quickly knock thousands off their offer price.