Home Staging - Why It Works

With the popularity of home staging television shows, many are wondering if staging works in the "real world." Home staging is more than just good entertainment on a Saturday afternoon, it is a proven technique that sells homes in Hollywood and across the country.

HOME STAGING DESCRIPTION: Home staging is the art of preparing your house for sale by highlighting the home's features through furniture arrangement, accent placement, and color choices. An Accredited Staging Professional is a real estate expert that performs an objective evaluation of a property to determine any obstacles that may hinder buyer interest in your home. Staging is not decorating. Home staging involves using interior design principles and marketing strategies to best represent your home.

WHY STAGING WORKS: Home staging works because a properly staged house is a house shown at its best condition. Each room contains important design elements: highlighted focal points, proper furniture placement to create a larger space and smooth traffic patterns, tasteful color selections on walls and through home decor, and properly placed home accents. All these principles working together create an atmosphere that triggers buyers' emotions, causing them to fall in love with the home.
In a staged home, buyers will see that:

• Staged homes look well cared for: staging addresses updating the home's decor while working within the home owner's budget.
• Staged homes are uncluttered: staging involves removing excess items so buyers can see the home's features.
• Staged homes have a pleasant atmosphere: staging displays the best furniture layout for your home, highlighting the focal points and creating easy pathways around the furniture.
• Staged homes appeal to a wider range of buyers: staging neutralizes a homes decor, giving it a model house-like appeal, thus attracting more buyers.

These elements help to generate buyer interest causing wonderful side-effects

HOME STAGING SIDE EFFECTS (BENEFITS):

1. Higher Asking Price: Statistically, homes that have been staged command higher asking prices than non-staged homes, because the house is in top showing condition.
2. Faster Sale Time: Statistically, staged houses sell in one-third time than non-staged houses
3. Greater Rate of Return: Statistically, the investment in staging is returned to the homeowner when their house sells. The average rate of return is about 120%. For example, if a home owner invested $500 in staging their house, they are likely to receive $560 back from the sale of their home through fewer (if any) price reductions or from an increase in asking price.

HOME STAGING STATISTICS:

Staged homes sell quicker than non-staged houses...

• Nationwide, staged home is on the market for an average of 31.9 days
• Nationwide, non-staged home is on the market around 160 days
• 93% of ASP homes sell within one month
• This could mean the difference between days and months!
• For complete statistics visit the Staged Homes Website

Staging is a win-win situation. The sellers win because their houses are sold in a shorter amount of time compared to a non-staged homes, and the real estate agents win because their listing sell faster than agents who don't recommend staging. Results do not lie. Story after story has been told of how staging made the difference in the sale of a home.

For more information on staging or to view gallery photos of staging projects visit: www.kfmstaging.com.

Kristina, owner of KFM Staging & Design, is an Accredited Staging Professional and has been working with Realtors, builders, and homeowners in the Twin Cities for over ten years. KFM Staging & Design specializes in consulting as a real estate expert, performing vacant and occupied staging services, and working with re-design clients.