Homeowners often ask if it is necessary to stage one’s home in a seller’s market. My response is, “yes, absolutely!” The Home & Living section in The Virginia-Pilot last week had an article about Home Staging titled “Selling your home? It pays to ‘walk and talk’ with a stager.”
Some Realtors, like those with the ASP, or Accredited Staging Professional, designation, offer a “walk-and-talk” consultation, during which the homeowners and agent walk through the home and assess each room to discuss how they want it to appear in online photos and in person. Suggestions for furniture placement, paint color, updating light fixtures and much more are provided.
It Pays to ‘Walk and Talk’ with a Stager
Staging yields significant returns on investment. The National Association of Realtors reports that a 1% to 3% investment in home staging yields an 8% to 10% return on that investment. The investment in staging is typically far less than a home’s first price reduction, which can start at $10,000 to $25,000.
Also, time on the market adds up with mortgage payments, taxes, insurance, utilities, etc. If a seller chooses not to stage his or her home, it’s equivalent to leaving money on the table.
If you are preparing to sell your house, besides finding a realtor, the next major task is preparing the house for sale.
Home Staging in the Virginia Beach Area
- Before any home is put on the market, staging is essential. People looking to buy your house may not want to live in it as you do, with the starfish theme running throughout the house. They need the house to look like it would be one they could live in comfortably.
- An empty house may be a problem for an agent and seller. When potential homebuyers see an empty house, they are sometimes at a loss as to what they would do with it. So work with the agent to give potential buyers an idea of what the house would look like.
9 Recommendations for Home Staging in the Virginia Beach area:
- Emphasize Curb Appeal. The lawn should be mowed and edged, dead stuff taken away or raked, plants trimmed. Siding and windows washed.
- Freshly paint the front door. This is the welcome mat to your home. Make sure the bell and porch light work.
- Declutter every room. You want potential homebuyers to imagine their belongings, pictures, art, books in “their” new home.” Get them to think it’s their house from the time they walk in the door.
- Make sure the house is clean. Nothing will turn off the buyer more than filth. If they feel unclean walking through your house, you’ve failed to make a sale.
- Clean out the closets, the medicine cabinet, and the tops of dressers.
- Paint! Take down the pictures from the walls, spackle the nail holes, and paint. Stick to neutral colors.
- Decorate tables with flowers.
- Make the rooms look bigger. Removing furniture makes the rooms look bigger.
- Add furniture to emphasize the purpose of the room
If you’ve read this far and say, “I don’t want to do all that stuff. I want to sell as-is and be gone.” Then, why don’t you call us? We can do a quick walk through, note any maintenance problems, note any improvements we need to make to bring the house up to today’s buyer’s standards and make you a cash offer. If you accept our offer, we can close in less than 30 days.
Ask now for our FREE information about How to Sell Your House Fast.
I am Christian Dunlap and my company, ChristianBuysHouses.com, buys houses all across Hampton Roads, including Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake and Portsmouth.
Give me a call today at 757-705-8812, and I will do my best to provide you with the fastest and fairest home selling solution you need.
