RESIDENTIAL
COMMERCIAL
INVESTMENT
STAGING
WHY STAGE YOUR HOME?
Staging makes for better photos which means more buyers:
You know how you love browsing the internet looking at properties for sale? You’re not alone. We’ve built our whole business model around the fact that people shop online for a home. Today’s Buyer has come to expect the polish they see on TV – we call it the HGTV effect. Staged homes just look better in photos – there’s no denying it.
Buyers Have A Greater Sense of Urgency:
When a market is hot, buyers have a greater sense of urgency. This means they have to move quickly and are more easily swayed by first impressions and emotions. Homeowners can use this to their advantage by staging their home. You can also strengthen a buyer’s connection to the home by staging for the season in a subtle way. In a hot market, a staged home could attract multiple offers instantly after listing it. Nowadays, buyers are looking for thoughtfully furnished rooms that help them visualize living in the home. In contrast, keeping your home furnished tailored to your tastes and preferences can make the buyer feel disconnected from the home.
Staging Ensures You Will Get the Highest Sale Price in the Quickest Time:
While the impact of staging depends on a lot of factors, we believe professional staging adds 2-3% to the price of a home in Ottawa. So a $1,000,000 house, for example, would sell for $1,020,000-$1,030,000 if it was professionally staged. What would you do with an extra $20 or 30K?
It’s included in The Norman Group commission:
Yes, you read that right. Professionally staging a typical Ottawa home costs anywhere from $2,500 to $10,000. We believe staging is so important that we include it in our standard service. We have a storage locker full of art, furniture and accessories, 1 full-time stager on staff and preferred partnerships with all the people you need to prep your home for sale.
RECOMMENDED HOME STAGING TASKS
We’ve covered the best tips for staging a home before, but here’s a quick overview of the staging-related tasks that sellers should be focusing on:
De-cluttering:
There’s a lot to gain from a lack of clutter. Getting rid of clutter is effective home selling 101, since it opens up the space and makes it look both bigger and more appealing. When you’re getting ready to sell, box up everything you don’t need on a day-to-day basis (including seasonal items, papers, and a majority of your home décor) and store it all away for your next home.
De-personalizing:
It can be difficult for a buyer to picture themselves in a home if they’re confronted with actual pictures of a home’s current owners. The goal is to create a blank canvas, and for that, you need to stow away family photos and any other overtly personal items—including things like your toothbrush on the bathroom counter.
Deep cleaning:
The same deep clean you do upon moving into a new home should also be done prior to listing your home on the market. Cleaning is essential to staging since it goes hand-in-hand with the goal of making a positive first impression. And if you don’t have the time to do it right, spend a couple hundred bucks on a professional cleaning service—it will be worth it.
Small repairs:
Big repairs can be handled in post-inspection negotiations, but small repairs—think paint touch-ups and a bit of spackling and caulking—should be done during the staging process. These little fixes are quick and cheap to take care of, and can be glaring to buyers if they’re not.
When in doubt, go neutral:
The four tasks above go a long way in most homes for sale. But if your home is painted in bright colours or if you have a very distinct decorating taste, then it may be worth going a step further with your staging by neutralizing the space for buyers. Get rid of garish colours by painting over walls in white, gray, or another standard neutral shade, and consider swapping out bright carpeting for taupe or beige. You may also want to rent a storage unit to house bold and/or excess pieces of furniture. It’s a costly endeavour, but could have a major impact on how fast a home sells—and for what price.
How much (or how little) staging a home requires depends a lot on the current state of both the home and the market. In a seller’s market, for example, there might be more lee-way in terms of appealing to buyers, with less stress put on the need for proper staging. In a competitive buyer’s market though, staging becomes even more crucial, since you need any advantage that you can get.
Work with our real estate team to determine whether staging is important for your home and to what degree. If it means a smoother sale, it’s worth taking on the task.
SCHEDULE A CONSULTATION TODAY!
The bottom line is regardless of where the home market stands, staging is beneficial for all parties involved. Sellers should stage a home even in a hot market. It helps the seller and realtor get the most money in a shorter time frame. It also increases the buyer’s confidence in the home. This helps them feel great about their purchase and feel as though they got their money’s worth. If you have any more questions about home staging or if you’re ready to stage your home, our experts would be happy to walk you through the process. Schedule a home staging consultation today!