Whether the real estate market favors a buyer or a seller, staging a home for a successful sale is a proven technique to get the greatest return on one of your biggest investments— your home.
Sellers may think that staging is meant for vacant homes or that they will need to remove all their belongings and live in a staged home until their home sells. However, there are many different facets to the staging industry that allow us to work within each home seller’s needs and budget.
The main reason for staging your home is to create an environment that will make the potential buyer see themselves living there. By hiring a professional stager, your home’s visual appeal will shine, both in-person and online. With the help of technology, a buyer will see a home online before deciding to walk through the front door. Stagers keep this in mind and strategically place furnishings to direct the eye to key features of the home.
By giving structure to rooms throughout the house and clearly defining them, objections can be easily overcome. It’s amazing how a small room can seem larger when the right amount of furniture is placed in the right spots.
Photos of a home that is clean, organized, and up-to-date with minimal project touch ups or projects needed are key in getting multiple buyers through the door. A professional stager wants you to stand out from the crowd. A home that presents itself as move-in ready is more attractive to most.
When a home is vacant or under construction, a stager will most likely want to see the home in-person to prepare a proposal for staging. Not all companies are the same, so rental terms and pricing may vary. While staging an empty home from top to bottom may not fit all budgets, there are key rooms that are a must— the living room (usually the first impression of the home), kitchen, bathrooms, primary bedroom, and other daily high-use rooms, such as the family and dining rooms.
When staging a home, you should put the “real” first impression at the top of your priority list—the front door! A professional stager will make recommendations on how to maximize the appearance of the front entryway. It’s amazing what a fresh coat of paint on the door and some simple plants can do. Sounds like a simple weekend project with a big impact!
So, what if you’re living in your home and plan to continue living there while it’s on the market? Chances are you have to pare things down a bit and may have some improvements to make that have a big return on investment (ROI). After all, this is your home. However, now it’s time to market your home to be someone else’s new home.
In this situation, a pre-market consultation can benefit a seller. This is when a professional stager will walk through your home room by room making recommendations on how to maximize your space’s potential to a buyer.
Some common suggestions include pre-packing personal belongings or items that take up a lot of space, updating paint colors (one of the biggest ROIs), swapping light fixtures, enhancing curb appeal, and strategically placing items within your home.In addition, a stager may recommend rentals or small purchases to bring in some updated, eye-catching pieces. You may also have pieces and furnishings that are neutral and current that may need a stager’s eye for placement within photos. After the initial consultation, you’ll be left with the tools and suggestions needed to make your home look its best on the market.
With the rise of short-term rentals, many stagers have begun providing staging for off-market vacation homes. With our eye for creating connections when looking for a listing and having marketing photos in mind, why not hire a professional stager to design and create an oasis for guests, too?
Bringing a professional stager to your home before listing it on the market is always a great idea. Whether you want to furnish an empty listing, live in your home while it is on the market, or furnish a rental home, staging is the key to ensuring you have an eye-catching property for a successful launch. Working in collaboration with your agent, our goal is to help you sell your home quickly and for top dollar so you can move on to the next chapter.
Signature Staging/David Cieslak Interior Solutions is a result of my dream of combining two of my interests: Interior Design and Real Estate. While staging is a key marketing tool in the sale of real estate, there are many design principles that come into play. This year, as I celebrate 20 years in this profession, I’m honored to have been able to help thousands of home sellers move on to their next chapter. We’ve also had the opportunity to work with some of the top agents not only in Chicago, but across the country to help market their listings for a successful sale.
Most recently, I was named as one of the Top 100 most influential people in Real Estate Staging by the Real Estate Staging Association®.
David Cieslak | 312.730.7799 | david@signaturechicago.com | signaturechicago.com