In today’s Dallas real estate market, the majority of buyers want make-ready homes. We’re seeing less desirability for “fixer uppers” and more attraction to homes that are move-in ready, full of amenities, and tailored to a comfortable lifestyle.
The good news is that if you’re selling a home, it doesn’t have to be difficult to get your property up to these standards. It just takes some attention and expertise around two important steps. Do these, and your final sale price is almost guaranteed a boost, meaning you'll sell for a profit.
What are the 2 steps? Preparation and Presentation.
Staging your home is important, but preparation is what happens BEFORE home staging ever takes place — and it is extremely important. I know that we stagers can do many magical things, but even the best stagers can’t distract from damaged paint and battered doors, floors and trim.
If updates or upgrades will require $5k investment, but the payoff is a $15k increase in the sale price, that is wise investment. In my experience, 9.9 times out of 10, it’s The Best Money you will ever spend.
AFTER!
The trick is knowing where and how to invest, and that’s where a professional stager comes in. During our initial consultation with you, we weigh the pros and cons of your space. We will let you know which type of buyers are eager for a home like yours, the features they want, and we’ll tell you exactly which investments are wiser than others.
You’ll walk away from our meeting with a prioritized plan for updating or upgrading your space wisely and staying within budget.
You are welcome to call in your favorite handyman or the one you found on Google last week… or, you could let our extended team do it for you!
In our case, all we ask is that you give us a little time, and we will bring our painters, the flooring and carpet installer, the electrician, and even the cleaner when the work is complete. What buyer doesn’t love walking into that fresh, new smell and the feeling that they will be the first to live in the home?
Staging your home for the potential buyers is another great investment, because it allows the buyers to connect with the home and see themselves living in it.
I’ve found that sometimes home sellers and even listing agents believe that they were born with special gifts in home decorating, and they will try to stage the home themselves. Please, even if you have a gift (I believe it!) doing the staging yourself to save a few bucks is a mistake.
Why? Because...
Staging a home for the market is a lot more complicated than bringing furniture in and fluffing pillows. Yes, it requires one to not only know how to fluff pillows and bring furniture in.
But you need to be trained on certain things, too, like giving each space a purpose, staging for the ideal buyer, creating focal points and interest where there are none, showing potential clients how they can live in your home, and most importantly… staging so that the house photographs well!
The way the human eye and the camera lens perceives space is so far off from each other. And if you think about it, it makes perfect sense. (Why do you think the big bucks companies hire visual merchandisers to market their products?)
Please know this, when you decide to put your house on the market, it is no longer your home. It is now a product that you would want to sell for a profit. So leave it to the professionals (and not necessarily the cheapest one) to get it done the right way, because you only have one chance to make the right impression.
Buyers will either love or hate your home in the first 3 to 6 seconds, whether they saw photos online or toured it in person.
3 to 6 seconds. That's all you’ve got. SO, my friends... choose wisely!
— Keti
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