Staging Your Home
Staging Your Home
As a whole, home owners how properly stage their homes sell their properties faster and at higher prices. In addition to preparing your home for sale, consider putting some time and money into staging your home. Read below for more information on staging your home.
How staging a home helps to sell it for more
By Keith Rockmael | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor
When it comes to staging a home, the beauty lies not only in the art but in the numbers. For those who haven't seen a home-staging TV show or sold a house recently, staging can transform a home from ugly duckling to swan.
Many people are under the misconception that staging is a pricey option for rich homeowners. Not true: Staging is about the creativity, not the money. What some people don't realize when they sell their house "as is" or don't stage is that it can actually cost them money.
In the real estate game, time is as important as money. Unstaged homes spent an average of 22 days on the market. Those staged by a professional spent an average of 11 days on the market, according to statistics compiled by Stagedhomes.com.
The industry makes impressive claims for staging: Unstaged home prices averaged $518,820, while a comparable staged home sold for $557,271, a 7.4 percent difference. Barb Schwartz, founder of Associated Staging Professionals and author of "Home Staging: The Winning Way to Sell Your House for More Money," makes an even loftier claim. According to her recent figures, staged homes priced under $1 million sell for 10 percent more than comparable unstaged homes. Staged homes listed for $1 million-plus sell for a 20 percent premium, she says.
Comparisons are difficult, since no home is sold both with the staging add-ons and without them. A more down-to-earth appraisal of staging's effect is offered by HomeGain, an online resource for homebuyers and sellers: Their 2003 poll of 2,000 real-estate agents found that staging typically costs from $212 to $1,089 and adds from $2,275 to $2,841 to a home's selling price - a "return" of from two to 13 times the cost of...keep reading>
Staging: The New Secret Weapon for Selling Homes
By Lisa Sachleben, Design Refined
Staging can be anything from de-cluttering to rearranging the existing furnishings to completely refurnishing the entire home. Whatever degree of staging you do can make a significant difference in how quickly and for how much a home sells.
Bill Barrett suggests spending one-half to three-quarters of a percent of the asking price for staging. Depending on the stager, it can cost even less than that and instead of cutting into profits, staging dollars can actually multiply themselves. Conservative estimates show a $2 to $3 return for every dollar invested in staging.
The psychology of homebuying
Buying a house is largely an emotional decision because people are not just purchasing a home; they are buying a dream...a lifestyle. If you can help them with their vision so they don't have to rely completely on their imagination, you positively impact how they feel in the home, which will be reflected in the sales price and number of offers you receive.
All human beings want comfort, excitement, prestige and love, and all these are at work in the psychology of the home purchase. Effective staging maximizes those feelings, creating an atmosphere that makes people want to linger and imagine themselves living in the space. Ultimately, staging creates a home the prospective buyer will not be able to live without.
Do not mistake staging as some underhanded way to unload property. It's simply taking advantage of the same principles of marketing used to sell any other commodity. People want to be inspired; they want to walk in and envision themselves entertaining in the dining room or enjoying a family night in the great room. Staging also benefits potential buyers because it gives them a good idea of how the home could look if they lived there and the scale and style of furniture necessary to achieve the look.
Higher selling prices
According to the Feb. 8, 2004, Denver Post "National Association of REALTORS® findings show that staged homes sell 50 percent faster than non-staged homes." The Wall Street Journal on April 30, 2003, reported that "staging speeds up sales in a sluggish market and can bump up prices from two percent to ten percent in a moderate market..." Savvy REALTORS® understand that a feeling of spaciousness and hominess can move homes faster and add as much to the final selling price as a mountain view or a three car garage...keep reading>
Feng Shui for Sellers
by David Kopec
By now many of us heard of the ancient eastern practice of Feng Shui. If not, put simply, Feng Shui is the ancient science (some call it an art) of environmental harmony.
One principle commonly used in Feng Shui is that of The Five Element Theory. This theory basically states that there is a cyclical nature between the predominating elements of our world and how we can use those elements to live in harmony with our environment. These predominating elements are seen as: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water.
As with any cycle, the flow can be clockwise or counter clock wise. When looking at the five-element cycle we can see the same pattern, only it is described as the enhancing cycle or diminishing cycle. An enhancing cycle is depicted as Wood feeding Fire; Fire then creates Earth; Earth then produces Metal; Metal attracts Water (condensation); And, Water the nourishes Wood. Conversely, a diminishing cycle is one where Wood destroys Earth (absorbing its nutrients); Earth destroys Water (turning it into mud); Water destroys Fire; Fire destroys Metal (melting it); and Metal destroys Wood (Metal blades cut Wood).
With these elements and their destructing and enhancing cycles we can then turn our attentions to the environment.
If we look at Seattle, for example, I think that we can all agree that the predominating element in that city is water. We know from our diminishing cycle that water destroys fire, leaving people feeling cold and wet. In the same token, water enhances wood, which can then be used to feed fire. Therefore, from a Feng Shui point of view, a harmonious environment in Seattle would be one with lots of wood, which would then increase the perception of warmth. In the same token, isn't it interesting how mountain communities seem to have more A-frame homes than other places? Well if we look at this from a Feng Shui perspective we will note that mountain communities get quite cold, the opposite of cold (yin and yang concept) is heat, and A-frames take on the fire symbol (triangular) and are typically made from wood and contain many wood features.
From a Feng Shui mindset, a brick building would reduce the water; by reducing the water you're reducing the growth of wood/moss that promotes decay. On the interior, one would want to counteract the cold damp feeling that is associated with water and hence wood accents and furnishing would help feed the fire in the fire place(s). In the mountain communities where wood is the predominating element we would want to introduce the element of metal in the form of wrought iron fencing (wood picket fences will fuel a fire) and metal accessories wherever appropriate. During the winter months, however, mountain communities get cold and the principle of Yin and Yang would have to be applied. Because metal attracts water, and both metal and water are cool elements, we would want to bring in warm elements of wood and fire. Earth is a neutral temperature and would also be appropriate. Hence, earthen fire mantles would the most appropriate as opposed to wooden mantels...keep reading>