Stagnant Real Estate Market Benefits from Home “Staging”

    by Victoria Bernardini of More than Meets The Eye!

In our current housing market, few businesses can have more impact than a real estate staging company. For Victoria Bernardini, of More Than Meets The Eye LTD, the housing market downturn has meant an upswing in requests for home staging assistance. “The concept is relatively new in the Greater Cincinnati market, but in other parts of the country, home sellers have been using professional stagers for decades to help them sell their homes quicker and for more money.” 

Staging is the professional process of preparing a home to be listed on the real estate market.  Years ago, sellers could list their home “as-is” and find plenty of buyers who were willing to strip wallpaper, paint walls, change out carpeting, and update light fixtures. Not so anymore. Standards have changed since the market downturn. Move-in ready homes with fresh paint and tasteful décor can get multiple contract offers while as-is homes often sit for months, or even years, without any buying interest. 

A home stager does not take the place of a real estate agent. Some agents will suggest staging services when a property is listed but generating little or no buying interest. Other agents won’t even take a listing unless the property has been staged first.  Why?  Because people shop on the Internet these days, so as soon as a new listing shows up, potential buyers will decide if they have any interest based on that they see online. This means that sellers must stand out on the web. Beautiful pictures of clean, un-cluttered, well-furnished rooms help generate interest. 

Home sellers Laura and Brian Tierney firmly believe that the photos in their online listing brought their buyer to them quickly. “Even in this depressed real estate market, our home sold in 11 days once it was listed,” says a smiling Laura. “Admittedly we priced it well, but we also worked with a home stager prior to listing with an agent, so by the time the photos were taken, the house looked great. All of the de-cluttering, rearranging and cleaning paid off quickly.” Laura and Brian Tierney’s stager was Victoria Bernardini, with More Than Meets The Eye LTD.

It’s true that furnished homes sell better than vacant homes, therefore sellers usually list their homes while they are still living there. The trouble is, most buyers cannot mentally separate the existing furnishings from the house itself, so if they are turned off by the current contents, they won’t consider buying the property.

The staging goal is to create a look and feel that virtually all buyers would like. Buyers are generally looking for a home that is clean, spacious, move-in ready, tasteful, open and airy. On a deeper level, home buyers are also seeking prestige, comfort, safety, sanctuary, stability, beauty, happiness and fulfillment. That’s a tall order. Staging can help optimize a home so it will connect with most potential buyers on a physical as well as emotional level.

Professional stager, Victoria Bernardini, reminds home sellers that “Emotion is what makes people buy. They justify with logic, but they buy with emotion. If the potential buyer gets a good feeling right off the bat, they will look for all the positive reasons they like the property. Conversely, if a potential buyer sees something that turns them off, they will spend the rest of their visit looking for other things that are wrong with the place.”

First impressions are powerful, so curb appeal cannot be underestimated. Victoria explains, “I start with the outside aspects of the house and then move inside.  Nothing is overlooked.

• Step 1 is the depersonalizing, organizing, packing away, and de-cluttering step.  We work on each area of the yard, each room, every cupboard and every closet to make it seem as spacious as possible.
• Step 2 is the cleaning, repairing, painting phase to make the house move-in ready.
• Step 3 is the decorate-to-sell step. When most people think of staging, this phase is what they envision, but staging involves a lot more than setting the dining room table and adding some throw pillows.
• Step 4 is the on-going maintenance required to keep everything is tip-top shape, day after day. It’s difficult to live in a home and be ready to have potential buyers visit at any moment. I give my staging clients lots of tips for keeping everything well-organizing and prepared for showings with very little lead-time.”

For occupied homes, most of the staging effort usually centers on taking things away and making space. If the home is already vacant, the opposite is true.  Empty is not enticing, so stagers such as Victoria will furnish and accessorize the main rooms like a model home and provide arrangements of accessories (known as vignettes) in the other rooms to indicate the potential use of each space.

Don’t blow your opportunity! Sellers get the majority of their buying interest in the first few days of an active listing.  The market is too tough to waste those important initial days on a home that is not truly ready to show.  A first impression is a lasting impression, so put your best foot forward and prepare your property BEFORE you list it. 

Contact Victoria Bernardini of More Than Meets The Eye LTD at 859.801.4000 for quick, comprehensive help with staging.