The Advantages of Staging Your Home

There’s a line of thinking that says it’s an advantage to market an empty home. The idea is that potential buyers can more easily visualize their furniture in a house without anything it.

While this argument makes sense at first glance, our recent experience and research from the National Association of Realtors, provided to us by industry resource KCM, suggest that’s not the case.

Information from the Association’s Annual Profile of Home Staging, revealed the following:

• 62% of seller’s agents say that staging a home decreases the amount of time a home spends on the market.
• 50% of staged homes saw a 1-10% increase in dollar-value offers from buyers.
• 77% of buyer’s agents said staging made it easier for buyers to visualize the home as their own.
• The top rooms to stage in order to attract more buyers are the living room, master bedroom, kitchen, and dining room.

We know this to be true. We recently listed a home in our own neighborhood that had been purchased by an investor. When he was ready to market the home, he asked us about staging and we recommended that he do so. (The picture above is from the home.)

Staging can cost as little or as much as you want. It’s important to consult a professional, who does this for a living as they have furniture, lamps., etc. at the ready.

The bottom line is that the property sold in three weeks at 100% of asking price. The average time for Cape Cod homes to be on the market is 120 days.

As a client of Mari Sennott and Associates, we pay for your consultation fee, if there is one.

For more information about listing your home and the possibility of staging to improve your chances of getting the best price, contact us via the comment section or call 508-568-8191.

Starting to look for your dream home? Here are five tips.

1. One way to show you are serious about buying your dream home is to get pre-qualified or pre-approved for a mortgage before starting your search. Even if you are in a market that is not especially competitive, understanding your budget will give you the confidence of knowing whether or not your dream home is within your reach.

2. Before you start your search, list all the features of a home you would like and then qualify them as ‘must-haves’, ‘should-haves’, or ‘absolute-wish list’ items. This will help keep you focused on what’s most important.

3. Research and choose communities and neighborhoods that you want to live in. Make sure that the area meets your needs for amenities, commute, schools, etc. and then spend a weekend exploring before you commit. This will also help your real estate professional find homes that suit your requirements.

4. Pick a house style you like and stick to it. Evaluate your family’s needs and settle on a type of home that would best serve them. Again, this allows your real estate professional to do a more efficient job for you.

5. Document your visits. Once you start touring homes, the features of each individual house will begin to blur together. Keep your I-Phone at the ready to take pictures of what you like and don’t like about each property you visit. Jotting down notes on your I-Pad will also help when you begin to eliminate properties from consideration. You’re touring home on your own and find one that you think your partner would like? Don’t hesitate to use your technology to give them a live tour!

An oldie but goodie….

Enjoy your week…

Mari and Hank