Home staging

Home staging is the act of preparing a private residence prior to going up for sale in the real estate marketplace. The goal of staging is to sell a home quickly, and for the most money possible by making a home appealing to the highest number of potential buyers. Staging focuses on improving a property to make it appeal to the largest number of buyers by transforming it into a welcoming, appealing, and attractive product for sale. Many people believe that staging raises the value of a property by way of reducing the home's flaws, depersonalizing, decluttering, cleaning, improving condition items, and landscaping. For vacant homes, staging furniture is used to create a living space the buyer can "see" themselves living in. Properly executed staging leads the eye to attractive features while minimizing flaws.

History

U.S.

Since the 1970s, real estate agent professionals have used staging as a marketing tool in the United States. Not until the 1990s did this real estate trend become a separate endeavor adopted by professional designers and decorators and real estate agents. More recently, the trend of do-it-yourself home staging has become popular.

Staging is increasingly viewed by many in a competitive market as a necessary step to take before selling a home, and many home sellers use the services of a professional home stager or a real estate agent with staging experience and expertise to help them stage their homes before it goes on the market.

U.S. research (based on surveys of real-estate agents, not on rigorously collected data on prices, and not peer-reviewed or published in peer-review journals) states that home staging can reduce a listing's time on the market by one third to half, and could fetch as much as 10-15% more than an empty home or a home not properly staged.Fact|date=July 2008

The popularity of home staging has led to the creation of home staging courses that educate real estate professionals about the home staging process. However, home staging is an unregulated field. There are no industry standards or official boards to give accreditation to instructors or schools.Fact|date=July 2008

UK

In Britain, home staging, sometimes referred to as property presentation or property styling, had been a relatively new concept, but the techniques have been televised by Californian home stylist Ann Maurice in the popular television show House Doctor on Five.Fact|date=September 2008

Techniques

Many techniques are used to stage a property. De-cluttering, depersonalizing, updating old or unattractive fixtures, painting, furniture rearrangement, rental furniture and accessorizing are just some of the changes used to make a home more appealing to potential buyers.

Since a typical home buyer decides if they are attracted to a home or not in the first 8 seconds of seeing itFact|date=May 2007, curb appeal is generally viewed as a vital aspect of the staging process. Therefore, curb appeal, the practice of improving a home’s exterior appeal, is used alongside interior improvements.

It has been shownFact|date=March 2007 that homes containing furniture and accessories sell more quickly than vacant homes, because the potential buyers realize what can actually be done with the place. They may realize that the room is actually a lot larger than it would look without furnishings. Rental of furniture and decorative accessories is a common solution when selling brand new properties that have never been occupied, or those where homeowners have already vacated the property.

Spaciousness and light often determine the success of a staged home. Typically, the larger a room appears, the better it will seem to homebuyers. Dark, tight spaces create a poor impression and may prevent the home from selling. Furniture layouts should create an impression of openness and comfort. Non-essential items should be removed to minimize crowding and clutter. Opening curtains and blinds to let in natural light and turning on interior and exterior lights at nighttime are also common staging techniques.

One school of thought suggests that wall treatments and flooring are most appealing when presented in neutral colors and subtle patterns. Paint colors should be neutral whenever possible, as bright or bold colors and strong patterns detract from the universal appeal of a space. This rule, however, does not always hold true, particularly in the luxury home market, where unique fixtures and bold finishes—such as stained concrete flooring, deeply colored textured paints and artisan fixtures—are often considered highly desirable. [http://www.rdbmagazine.com/online/article.jsp?id=215&siteSection=0]

Religious items, personal photos, awards, certificates and cultural items are often removed to downplay the presence of current homeowners. This helps potential homebuyers to not only feel more at ease during viewings, but allows them to focus on the property itself while also imagining their own belongings in the space.

External links

* [http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/02/real_estate/staging_fortune/index.htm Home Staging - Still A Relevant Tactic in Lots of Places]
* [http://atlanta.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2005/10/31/focus9.html Setting the stage for a sale (Atlanta Business Chronicle)]
* [http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Consumer/story?id=1872052&page=1 "Housing: Stage Your Home for a Bigger Sale"]
* [http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=22778 Home Stagers Work Together Through "Stage It Forward..." to Create Home Staging Industry Leadership (American Chronicle)]
* [http://www.canadianbusiness.com/my_money/spending/home/article.jsp?content=20050504_105659_6480 Winning The Real Estate War - (Canadian Business - COVER STORY)]