Poised For Sale (p.36)

By Laurie Preston

With home sales in the Triangle declining 13% from June 2008 to June 2009 (according to the North Carolina Association of Realtors), the key to selling your home is making it stand out to potential buyers. There are many ways to do this, and it’s always difficult to choose which path will reward you with the most return.

Home staging has become a popular topic in today’s market. Staging is one of the foremost proven methods for receiving more offers on your home, selling it faster, and getting closer to your asking price. Through strategic design, home stagers move, replace, update, and rearrange items inside and outside the house to transform it into a welcoming, appealing, and attractive product for sale.

Home staging is about appealing to buyers’ emotions – the splendor they are looking for in their life. Staging makes a home feel more inviting and ready for a family to move in. It offers buyers something they don’t see in every house – beauty.

According to the Accredited Staging Professionals Society (ASP), on average, 94.8% of ASP staged homes sell in 37 days or less. This is a huge difference in comparison to un-staged homes, which can sit on the market for upwards of 182 days.

RETURN ON STAGING INVESTMENT

A recent national survey done by HomeGain.com of over 2,000 real estate agents furthered the argument that home staging is the best way to improve your ROI when getting your home ready to sell. According to the study, home staging – this includes de-cluttering, landscaping, and prepping the home for sale – costs between $190-$584 and has a return of 319%-578%. Home repair – which includes updating kitchens/baths, replacing/cleaning carpets or flooring, and electrical – can cost between $436-$1,828 but only yields returns between 121%-164%.

It’s apparent how important home staging is from the prominent position it’s taken in home selling. You even see entire television series dedicated to it. Sellers are seeing a huge difference, and that’s what really matters. Staging a home is an important investment that can increase your chance of not having to reduce the asking price.

Despite what you may think, staging is actually affordable, both on the hourly rate and the net profit. Some real estate agents will include the cost of staging in with their fees, because they truly see the value of it. For those who don’t include it, the cost is minimal as opposed to what you’d lose by having your home sit on the market. I’ve compiled a list of the top reasons why staging is worth the investment.

1. Online Presence – A large majority of buyers are going online for their initial search. Through web profiles, potential buyers are able to refine their search in a fraction of the time it takes to search in person. Having show-ready pictures of your home could make the difference between moving to the next step in a prospective buyer’s search.

2. Value – The cost that home staging can save you is immense. By having your home professionally staged, you can save thousands. Every day that your home sits on the market, you lose money. Staged homes are proven to sell faster and at closer to their asking price than un-staged homes.

3. Measurable – Staging has proven, measurable results. Staged homes sell two to three times faster and for an average of 6% more than un-staged homes. Recent staging statistics from the Real Estate Staging Association confirm that professionally staged, occupied homes sold 89% faster in 2008.

4. More Energy Required than Money – Sellers don’t always have a great deal of money to invest in their home before they sell it. New cabinets and flooring can be cost prohibitive, especially in this market. A lot of what a staging consultant offers is completely feasible to do yourself. If you’re willing to put in the energy, you’ll see the benefits.

5. It Works Inside-Out – Home staging not only works inside the home, but with outside curb appeal as well. A professional home stager can help you design the exterior of your home so that when you do get prospective buyers coming to view it, they are immediately wowed and ready to make your home theirs.

The bottom line is that when you are ready to sell your home, there will inevitably be things you need to update, change, buy, and replace. Home staging offers the fastest, most reliable, and effective means of selling your home in the least amount of time. But, the key to this is you. The most successful staging projects are those with which the home owner is completely on board. The hardest part of this is getting the owners to agree to things they may not have done when they lived in the house. Remember, you’re working with a professional … you hired this person to help sell your house, so take the suggestions, implement them, and get ready to move into your new home.

Laurie Preston, a certified and trained accredited staging professional, is the owner of Preston Interiors, a home staging and interior design business located in Cary. For more information, visit www.prestoninteriors.com.