Home staging is defined as making a property attractive for a potential real estate sale. This trend allows you to modernize a property at a lower cost, and furnish it in a way that appeals to the widest possible audience. Home staging is the best technique for enhancing the value of a property to encourage a quick sale at the best price.
Home staging: what does it involve?
The technique aims to make the property as neutral as possible, in order to appeal to as many buyers as possible. This involves depersonalizing the decor, de-cluttering rooms, making small repairs, refurbishing, tidying up and cleaning up… Home staging gives an interior a facelift, making it easier for visitors to project themselves. Home staging is not about decorating: it’s about enhancing the value of a property and preparing it for sale and it’s not renovation: it’s not about transforming a property.
The first impression is crucial: the overall impression to a visitor emerges in the first 3 minutes.
A few introductory observations
When we sell a car, we empty it, wash it and repair it if necessary; why not a house? Similarly, when we buy a product in a store, we take the least damaged packaging, when it’s the contents that matter. Home “packaging” is just as important. Only 1 customer in 5 is able to visualize a property independently of its furnishings: so, to appeal to the greatest number, it’s necessary to neutralize decoration.
The 1st impression in home staging
This is crucial: a visitor’s general impression is formed in the first 3 minutes. Pay particular attention to the surroundings, to the discovery of the house: manicured grounds, mown meadows, plugged puddles, etc. The entrance hall is just as important: no untidy shoes or coats… Similarly, in terms of comfort, a heated house raises no doubts, or even suspicions, as to how the heating works, how much it costs, how well the house is insulated…
Home staging techniques:
De-cluttering rooms
It’s hard for buyers to visualize the space they’re looking at when it’s cluttered with furniture or other objects. Freeing up space makes it easier for users to plan their organization. You need to be able to move around easily in different rooms. It’s considered necessary to have 60 to 70 cm between each piece of furniture to move around comfortably. If this is not the case, you may need to reduce the furniture in your living room.
Depersonalize decoration
Too much decoration distracts visitors. Avoid an abundance of family portraits and knick-knacks cluttering tables and furniture. Pay particular attention to the master bedroom: give it the appearance of a hotel room and spare the visitor the subconsciously embarrassing feeling of entering the privacy of the sellers (e.g. no clothes lying around). To do this, buy boxes and start selecting those items that will have no use in the weeks to come. This offers the dual advantage of facilitating visits and preparing for a future move. To please as many people as possible, some people advise you not to make too much of a social or religious statement.
Identify the rooms
To make it easier for future buyers to take possession of the property, once you’ve depersonalized it as much as possible, you need to ensure that the function of each room is identifiable: as far as possible, an office without a bed, a bedroom without a computer, a dining room without a television, etc… However, it’s important to leave a minimum amount of furniture to help people visualize the room’s function and space (for example, an empty bedroom sometimes wrongly suggests that a double bed wouldn’t fit).
Highlighting the property’s assets
As a general rule, it’s a good idea to think about the features you want to show off to their best advantage, making them easier to access, opening windows that offer a good view… Similarly, you
need to be aware of the less attractive features that you’ll be delaying discovering. Without wishing to hide a property’s faults, you should postpone their appearance. If the property offers a beautiful view, this should be the first thing to appear; if it has a nuisance (busy road, railroad line, etc.), this should not be the first thing the visitor sees. It may be necessary to take a detour to choose a more welcoming entrance… The use of screens and the appropriate arrangement of furniture will impose a circuit giving priority to the assets.
Set the scene for your visit
As a general rule, rooms should be welcoming: open, lit and heated. Increased use of indirect lighting enhances comfort.
- The kitchen: an essential room; remove non-essential items, clear worktops, put nothing on top of kitchen units (which can indicate a lack of space), remove excess crockery (to free up storage potential),
- The bathroom: also needs to be clean, uncluttered, welcoming and airy,
- The living room: circulation must be comfortable,
- Bedrooms: air them well, don’t leave clothes lying around,
- Laundry room: clean and bright if possible,
- Garages and outbuildings: clear or declutter, especially items that have deteriorated or are no longer of use, or are being kept unnecessarily. Now’s the time to contact waste collection centers, charities, garage sales, etc…
Repair and do small jobs while home staging
3 out of 4 buyers don’t want to have to do any work before moving in, especially as real estate prices, perceived as high, don’t justify any additional investment for them.
The cost of home staging should always be reimbursed by the real estate transaction. Potential buyers will have less room for negotiation on a property that has been staged. A home staging service should not exceed 1-2% of the selling price. Don’t hesitate to replace faulty door handles, re-fix light switches, glue baseboards, repaint dog scratches, etc…
