Staging to Sell: The Basics of Home Staging

Has your home been on the market for too long? Are you getting low offers or had very few viewing requests? Maybe you have not got that far yet and you are looking to put your house on the market in the near future. Read on to learn more about Home Staging and how it will help you achieve a successful sale.

What is Home Staging?

Home Staging is the presentation of your home in a way that makes it appealing to as many potential buyers as possible. Because buyers can be put off by properties with too many personal items, unique styles or houses that have disjointed arrangements, home staging is necessary to help your potential buyer see themselves living there.

When you have made the decision to sell your house, you need to detach from it. You need to consider who is most likely to buy your house and what they are actually looking for. Speaking to Estate Agents or a Home Staging Adviser will gain you insights into the type of people looking for your type of home. Once you have this figured out, you can dress your home accordingly.

Furniture arrangements should be inviting and social

Home Staging Components

The key components of home staging are to declutter, depersonalise, de-decorate, deep clean and design.

Declutter

The first step of home staging and often the cheapest is to remove as much clutter as possible. Reduce the amount of things on show, leaving only a few well considered decorative items and then either sell or donate the excess, or store anything that can be stored for now.

The added benefit of decluttering at this stage means you will have less to take to your new home and it will minimise the frantic need to get packed up when the completion date is nearing.

Depersonalise

This is probably the hardest step for many people but the most important. You need to remove personal items, namely photos, trophies and collections. These items can be distracting to buyers who will spend more time looking at them than at the house itself, which means they won’t be thinking about how they will use the space and consequently your house will only be remembered by them for the personal items within.

Personal items make the house someone’s home, not your buyer’s home… You’ve decided to move, so it’s time to stop seeing it as your home, but instead as a house.

De-decorate

This step is optional, but highly recommended, especially if you want to achieve the best price for your home. Ideally, walls and carpets should be neutral in colour and minor DIY jobs should be dealt with. If a buyer walks into a home that is in need of updating or has bold wallpaper that is to not their tastes, they are either going to be put off or put in a lower offer to compensate.

Personally, I recommend avoiding the following colours to avoid your home being a carbon copy of other similar properties; pure white, which can look cold and sterile, grey, which is overused and magnolia, which is reminiscent of the 90s and rental properties.

Deep Clean

It’s time to get out the cleaning kit! Take a good look around your home and identify the areas that don't get cleaned regularly. Clear cobwebs from the ceilings and light fittings. Dust and polish flat surfaces, mirrors and pictures. Clean and wipe down skirting boards, door frames, door handles, light switches and sockets. Get the carpets professionally cleaned. Have patios and driveways jet washed. Clean windows and gutters. 

If it can be cleaned, clean it and before any viewings ensure you do a quick wipe and hoover around to stay on top of the most obvious spots.

Design

Lastly, you should style and stage the house. You need to make it appealing to your identified potential buyer. The aim is to highlight your home’s features and distract from any negative aspects. Your potential buyer needs to see your house as their dream home, however it needs to also offer them the dream lifestyle. Furniture rearrangements and styling with accessories is a key factor of this stage.

This can be a difficult step, particularly if you have lived in the property for a long time and become used to the house’s quirks. A Home Staging Advisor or a second set of eyes will be beneficial at this stage.

The Benefits of Home Staging

So, why would you want to spend time and money on a house that you want to move out of?

• Staging can make your home more desirable.

  • When there are a lot of properties similar to yours on the market, home staging will help yours stand out and be the most attractive/valuable option.

• Staged homes get more enquiries and viewings requests. 

  • People spend longer looking at high quality photos of well presented homes than homes with visual maintenance issues or those full of clutter.

• You will receive more and better offers. 

  • Buyers often ask ‘Has this house had a lot of interest?’. A house with a lot of interest will have a higher perceived value and in order to not lose out, people will put in higher offers.

• Home staging can increase the value of your house when done properly.

  • “You have to spend money to earn money”. Spending 1% of a house's value on home staging can increase its value by up to 10%.

• Your house will sell faster.

  • Staged homes spend on average half the time on the market compared to non-staged homes.

Final Thoughts

I have seen many beautiful and unique homes for sale that gather a lot of attention, but end up sitting on the market for months and I have seen homes for sale at too high a price for the condition that they are in. When you make the decision to sell your home, you cannot keep seeing it as your home. You need to look at it from a buyer's point of view and set your house up for them. Home staging makes your home more attractive, which means more viewing requests, better offers and less time on the market.