Remember ... Buyers Buy Emotionally, Not Rationally
Sky high mortgage rates have many buyers reluctant and taking a back seat to buying a home these days. However, some sellers are put in a position where they HAVE to sell. What to do? Stage the home. Remember, buyers don’t buy rationally, they buy emotionally. So, yes, staging matters.
BLOG POST BY:
Carla Gentle with Design Realign, Inc.
WHAT IS HOME STAGING AND WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TODAY
Home staging is the process of preparing a property for sale by making it appealing to prospective buyers and creating a warm and inviting atmosphere by rearranging furniture, decluttering, and adding or removing decor. Staging your home for sale can make all the difference in attracting buyer interest and higher offers. The goal of home staging is to create an emotional connection with the buyer and to showcase the home’s best features. You can clearly see the difference in my before and after staging samples below.
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SKY HIGH MORTGAGE RATES
A good candidate for home staging is anyone looking to sell their home quickly and for top dollar. This is particularly important in today’s sellers’ market. Why? Even though there is low inventory and more buyers than sellers, interest rates are so high that buyers are taking a back seat to buying right now.
This is a problem for many sellers who HAVE to sell their home. Staging could be the solution by making the home so irresistible that buyers have to take a look and make an offer. Properties that are cluttered, outdated or have a less-than-desirable floor plan can also benefit from home staging.
SOURCE: Forbes
SUCCESS STORY: HOW MY STAGING CHANGED THIS FAMILY'S LIVES
A friend of mine reached out to me back in 2015/2016 when I used to sell real estate. She asked if I would help her friends who had transferred out of state 18 months earlier (due to a job) and couldn’t get their home sold with their current Realtor. It had been on the market for a total of 526 days (listed a total of 3 separate times) with no offers with the other Realtor.
It was a nice home, a former model home from 2004, but needed some attention. Long Story Short: After being on the market with another Realtor for 526 days with no offers, they hired me as their new Realtor, they listened to my staging suggestions, and the home sold to the first buyer in the door!
CHECK THIS OUT
By the way, I did NOT stage their vacant home with furniture. The home remained vacant, but what I did with the home made ALL the difference. What did I do? I wrote an entire blog post on this success story, which YOU CAN READ HERE. Here are a couple before and after pictures of the kitchen and front room. What a difference just paint alone can make!
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IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU
The advantage of staging is to showcase the home, NOT the owner. This means sellers need to shift their mindset and make it about the buyer, not them.
Many sellers struggle with this. For example, I worked with a couple where the wife fought me when I suggested we move some of the furniture out of their master bedroom. There was way too much furniture, including an old writing desk they never used. I suggested we move some of the furniture into other rooms. She wouldn’t budge ... that is, until the next time I visited them.
She also wanted to keep all the curtains closed during showings, which covered their new windows and blocked the natural light. What? Their new windows were a huge selling point, so why would she do that? Well, she didn’t like her nosy neighbors. Needless to say, I had a talk with her, and I was able to get her to agree and see the importance of keeping the curtains open during showings.
I call this staged room (below) the “Captain’s Quarters”. I staged this home and sold it in 2016 on day 1 to the 2nd buyers that came through the door. This was NOT during a housing boom, but the staging helped it sell quickly and for top dollar.
You can see in the before picture that my sellers were using this room as storage. It used to be their grown son’s bedroom when he was growing up, so I needed to stage it to help people visualize their own child in that room.
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TO LEARN MORE
Home staging is typically performed by professional stagers who are hired by the homeowner or the real estate agent. The cost can vary greatly depending on the amount of work to be done. To give you an idea, my fees start at $300; but each stager has their own fees. To learn more about staging, in general, visit my staging webpage on my website.
NOTE: The only time I would not suggest staging a home is when selling a property to a flipper or investor.
CONCLUSION
High mortgage rates have caused many buyers to take a step back from buying a home. However, some sellers are put in a position where they HAVE to sell. The best way to address this is by staging the home to be so appealing that buyers can’t resist. Remember, buyers buy emotionally, not rationally. By properly staging a home, it can make a huge difference and increase your selling price by a significant amount over a similar home that is not staged.
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