Don't Be Upstaged! Stage Your Listing to Sell the Home

I have been going on a lot of MLS tours lately. I have seen many a listings and here is what I have discovered:  Savvy Realtors, who consistently use Stagers to Stage their listings, are seeing far more SOLD signs than their competition who don’t. If you’re not staging all of your listings, occupied and vacant, you’re not doing yourself or your sellers justice. Stage your listings and leave the competition behind.

I am sure you would all agree that Buying and Selling Real Estate is such an emotional transaction. I have yet to hear someone tell me the reason they bought a house was because it had three bathrooms, two and a half baths and a pool. Every time I ask someone why they bought the house they live in, the answer is “I fell in love with that house”. It’s funny how many people make an emotional decision about buying and selling Real Estate and then they go back and logically walk you thru why they made their emotional decision. Makes me smile each time!

I have lived in the Uptown/Downtown are of Dallas at least for twenty years now. I know exactly what the urban sophisticated and quirky buyer is looking for when they decide to buy Real Estate in the area. Unfortunately I can’t say that I see that portrayed on 100% of the listings. I really have not seen the properties being Staged to where the property appeals to the “lifestyle” of the urban dweller.

Appropriate Staging creates that lifestyle - that visual and emotional appeal - so that the buyers can emotionally move in. Staging is not decorating or fluffing a house. Rather it is a basic marketing tool that every Realtor who wants to sell fast and for top dollar should use. Thousands of Realtors across the country have discovered the “Magic” of Staging their properties for top dollar sales.

W.I.I.F.M (What’s In It For Me) - in other words “What’s in it for YOU - the Realtor”?

Staging is a Market Differentiator – you will win listings over non-staging agents because you are offering Staging as a Standard Service

Staging is a Value Added Service – Your listing will sell for more than comparable un-staged homes, AND you will make more money (and so will your sellers) if you Stage

You Get more business – you will get repeat and referral business because Sellers will appreciate the extra effort and the fact that the REA did MORE to Get Them MORE!

The Essential Realtor / Seller Conversation About Staging a Listing to Sell

Here is my two cents on how to have a “Must Stage” conversation with your sellers so that the property gets packaged, merchandised, i.e. Staged before it goes to market:

-         The way you live in a home and the way you sell your home are two different things

-         Once you have decided to put your home on the market, it immediately becomes a product, therefore it needs to be “packaged” – turned into a home - merchandised ( that’s what Staging does – it’s the only thing that you can do to  “package” and “merchandise” your listing)

-         Buyers don’t like the lived-in look. They only know what they see, not the way it is going to be

-         Buyers need to feel they are AT HOME, not in YOUR Home

-         Staging creates a serious of great impressions throughout the home motivating the buyer to linger; when buyers are browsing for homes in the neighborhood, one of two things will happen; they will either move in or move on!

-         The cost of Home Staging is always less than the 1^st price reduction.  On Average, the cost would be anywhere from $250 for a Staging Consultation, to $400 - $1,400 for an Occupied Staging project and up to $5,000 for a Vacant Staging project (which includes rental fees for furniture and accessories).

And for those of you who are all about the numbers, which I think all of us should be, than please click on the link below to be directed to the RESA (Real Estate Staging Association) Staging Calculator. http://www.stagingsavings.com/stagingSavings.html

Stay tuned, next time I will be discussing some pointers on Home Staging that I hope you find beneficial as you list your properties for sale!

Cheers,

Keti