Why It’s Worth Staging Your Home, and How to Do It

Staging a home means that the sellers set up each room to increase its appeal to a broad range of potential buyers. They remove distractions and seek to make things appear extra roomy and comfortable. The goal is to make each room appear to be anyone’s home, not the sellers’ home. Buyers can then picture themselves living there, and a connection to the home is made.

You may wonder if all this “staging” is necessary or if it’s worth the effort.  The answer can depend on the market in your community and the buyers that your home attracts, but staging can prove to be a profitable and smart move for many sellers.

In real estate, there are market values based upon recent sales of similar homes in the area, and asking prices are based on current market conditions. However, even though we’re in a seller’s market across most of the Granite State and Massachusetts, how a home looks to buyers still matters. Sellers who boost their home’s appeal to potential buyers are more likely to have multiple offers to choose from.

Here’s why staging is worth the effort:

• Staging sets the tone for how each room is used. If a spare bedroom is also an office or a home gym, it muddles how buyers view the space. It is better for each room to look like it has one clear purpose and use.
• It creates the feeling of openness and space. When you stage a room, extra-large pieces of furniture are typically removed or repositioned. Buyers will find it easier to picture their own furniture in a room arranged with only basic pieces of furniture.
• You create a “blank slate.” Distinctly personal style choices, like brightly-painted walls, should be updated with soft neutral tones that appeal to everyone. Buyers who are faced with a distinct room they have to paint or remodel before they can picture living there feel less motivated to buy.
• A well-staged home is easier to show and promote. With staging and excellent photos, your home may attract more potential buyers. More buyers mean a better chance of competitive offers or offers that are more than what you expected.

Is staging hard? Not if you stick to these basic principles:

1. Remove clutter. Pack away personalized décor, family photos, knick-knacks, and stacks of magazines or books.
2. Clean the entire home. Make the floors shine, shampoo carpets, make bathrooms sparkle, and freshen old paint and trim.
3. Reduce the amount of furniture in each room to a minimum and increase the area for walking space.
4. Give your bathroom a quick refresh. Buy new bath towels to hang up for showings and put away all cosmetics and medications.
5. Make the beds and use a couple of beautiful throw pillows as accents.
6. Open all curtains and shades to brighten each room.
7. Repaint any room that is a dark or unusual color, replacing it with a neutral, warm paint color. Light to medium gray with a blue tone or warm beige colors are very popular right now.

Your real estate agent can advise you about what would make each room of your house appeal better to buyers, and which staging tips would work best for you. Staging can be very simple to do and may bring you a greater number of serious and competitive offers to consider.