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Replies (13)
- wetdawgs
- Contributions:26842
Yup, I knew all that, although I feel it is a bit presumptuous to say that staging will get us the offers.
Welcome to the community.
Welcome to the community.
- agentblu15
- Contributions:353
Staging only works because most buyers are either clueless, shallow, unimaginative, or a combination of the three.
An intelligent buyer who is looking at properties correctly should have no trouble picturing a home without clutter, or a home with furniture. If you have problems picturing things spatially, you don't need a stager to put a sofa in a room to show you that it fits-- just bring a measuring tape when you go to look at properties.
The idea of buying a home because it has pillows staged on the beds, art on the walls, or a table and chairs in the dining room just baffles me-- it would be like going to look for cars, and picking which one to buy based on the fact that the salesman put a coffee cup in the cupholder, an air freshener on the rear-view mirror, and a hula-girl on the dashboard.
I KNOW staging works--it just really bothers me that it does, and doesn't say a lot for the people that fall for it.
An intelligent buyer who is looking at properties correctly should have no trouble picturing a home without clutter, or a home with furniture. If you have problems picturing things spatially, you don't need a stager to put a sofa in a room to show you that it fits-- just bring a measuring tape when you go to look at properties.
The idea of buying a home because it has pillows staged on the beds, art on the walls, or a table and chairs in the dining room just baffles me-- it would be like going to look for cars, and picking which one to buy based on the fact that the salesman put a coffee cup in the cupholder, an air freshener on the rear-view mirror, and a hula-girl on the dashboard.
I KNOW staging works--it just really bothers me that it does, and doesn't say a lot for the people that fall for it.
- DanaEv
- Contributions:62
Oh my goodness Agentblu, I've thought the same thing for years! I watch some of the home shows where they bring in people to look at someone's house because it hasn't sold, and then they stage it. All I can think of is "Doesn't the buyer know that none of that furniture or wall hangings or anything else is going to leave with the house and your own stuff is going in?". We brought a tape measure and a marble with us when we went house shopping. We had one room were the marble did a little bit of moving but not much. The rooms were plenty big enough to fit out furniture (we have large pieces which is always a concern for us).
So yeah, I know that staging works, but I think that buyers must sometimes be totally unimaginative if they can't look at the bones of the house, the shape of the rooms, the position of the kitchen to the living rooom, etc. and decide on those factors if they want the house, and not the ugly pink couch, cheap chairs and cluttered rooms.
BTW, our home that we just recently bought has the ugly pink bathroom from heck. It's quite a funny room though. So when considering which house to buy, we just decided to pull off the busy pink and blue wall paper with pink flowered borders, pull out the pinkish burgundy pedestal sink and matching toilet and add storage where there is none at the moment. The rest of the house is in great condition, has wonderful bones, a stone fireplace that goes up to the ceiling, which is around 25', high ceilings in every room, crown molding in every room, a laundry room bigger than the kids' bedroom in our last house, wood floors everywhere, gorgeous round windows, a 1,000 sq. foot deck and a built in gunite pool with heater and lights. What's not to love? We didn't look at the 6,000 small tables they had in every room, the fact that every room was painted a pale shade of beige, and that they had enough furniture for several houses. We looked at the size, shape, number of windows because we love light, property taxes, school district, ability to change items we needed changing, etc.
So I guess I do get aggravated too when I watch those shows on tv and people say they won't buy a house because the furniture is so ugly. So what? You aren't going to be using that furniture. Look at the floor plan! Look at the floors, look at the condition of the walls for cracks, look for stains on the ceiling for proof of a leaking roof (which our house had but they put in a new roof in 2007). I don't get it and will never get it. It costs a lot of money to stage a house professionally and in this economy many people don't have the money. Their best bet is to unclutter, clean up and let the potential buyers see all the good points of the property.
Sorry for the tangent. It's just been a big pet peeve for my husband and me for a long time....
- Tiffany Bond, "TiffanyBond"
- Contributions:3010
I always take the really, really ugly stuff/fixtures left behind and make a "kitchy" room in the basement. My current project house has some adhesive squishy brick that was on the walls, plus I am going to have a part of what was the shower surround framed - if I could only figure out how to get the metallic unicorn and swan wallpaper off without damaging it - I'd frame that too!
- Nancy Lee, "An OrderLee Home"
- Contributions:1195
I call those 'smiles' and scatter them around the house in places where I want buyers to slow down and really look around. Not too many, not too often or they are just clutter. I like the idea of a kitsch room late the tour of the house. What a great way to re-energize buyers!
- Kate Case, "Kate_HomeStager"
- Contributions:78
The numbers do not lie, home staging is helping to sell homes. Home Gains latest survey of 1,000 Realtors list home staging as the #2 item for home sellers to implement and gives it a 586% return on investment.
For a few hundred dollars, a seller can have a home staging consultation and a few hours of "hands-on" staging and it will attract a much larger buyer audience. If home staging will help a potential home buyer remember a home and make an offer faster, I really do not understand why some people react so negatively towards it. If a home seller can save several months of carrying costs (e.g, mostgage, taxes, utilities) and the Realtor closes more quickly isn't it a WIN-WIN for everyone?
For a few hundred dollars, a seller can have a home staging consultation and a few hours of "hands-on" staging and it will attract a much larger buyer audience. If home staging will help a potential home buyer remember a home and make an offer faster, I really do not understand why some people react so negatively towards it. If a home seller can save several months of carrying costs (e.g, mostgage, taxes, utilities) and the Realtor closes more quickly isn't it a WIN-WIN for everyone?
- Joshua Zargari, "Joshua Zargari"
- Contributions:127
Many times the homeowners do not care about staging.
I try to educate them.
I try to educate them.
- AlexShek
- Contributions:76
agentblue15, stating that: "most buyers are either clueless, shallow, unimaginative, or a combination of the three." is condescending.
I run a design-build remodeling company and know from my experience that some people who are neither clueless nor shallow nor unimaginative have problem with visualization.
We help them by providing 3D computerized design. I think home staging helps some people to visualize living in the house, which in turn may help them to make the buying decision.
I run a design-build remodeling company and know from my experience that some people who are neither clueless nor shallow nor unimaginative have problem with visualization.
We help them by providing 3D computerized design. I think home staging helps some people to visualize living in the house, which in turn may help them to make the buying decision.
- Nancy Lee, "An OrderLee Home"
- Contributions:1195
Oh, I think it has to do with the way people's mind work. (Having a background in psychology makes staging very interesting.)
Roughly 70% of peoples see things as they are, and unconsciously expect things to stay that way - that is the way the house will be if they live there. About 30% of people can ignore color and content, imagine other colors and furnishings and so are not influenced by what is there.
A much smaller percentage can not only look beyond what is there, in terms of the shape of the room (walls, cabinetry, closets), and imagine how the physical layout of the rooms can be changed.
But what appears to be the majority of that 30% who can imagine changes, don't want to be the ones who actually make the changes. So, stagers recommend painting walls in psychologically neutral colors, painting or refacing or replacing cabinets, remove distracting clutter and personal items to ensure the 70% plus the majority of the 30% can more easily imagine themselves living in the house.
In terms of marketing, the 30% can go into any house and not be influenced by what is already there. In terms of survival, I sometimes suspect the 70% who see things as they really are probably have a leg up on the 30%.
Roughly 70% of peoples see things as they are, and unconsciously expect things to stay that way - that is the way the house will be if they live there. About 30% of people can ignore color and content, imagine other colors and furnishings and so are not influenced by what is there.
A much smaller percentage can not only look beyond what is there, in terms of the shape of the room (walls, cabinetry, closets), and imagine how the physical layout of the rooms can be changed.
But what appears to be the majority of that 30% who can imagine changes, don't want to be the ones who actually make the changes. So, stagers recommend painting walls in psychologically neutral colors, painting or refacing or replacing cabinets, remove distracting clutter and personal items to ensure the 70% plus the majority of the 30% can more easily imagine themselves living in the house.
In terms of marketing, the 30% can go into any house and not be influenced by what is already there. In terms of survival, I sometimes suspect the 70% who see things as they really are probably have a leg up on the 30%.
- AlexShek
- Contributions:76
Outstanding answer Nancy Lee. Thank you!
- Tracy Santrock- Raleigh-Cary Realtor, "Tracy Santrock"
- Contributions:1117
Just this week I had a home staged beautifully sell with multiple offers and posted the pictures here on Zillow before they ended up on the MLS. The Buyers Agent told me they found the home on Zillow.com!! The world is changing! Under contract in 5 days. You can see the listing at 105 Ruthwin Cary, NC .
- Pelin Guzel, "Pelin Guzel"
- Contributions:31
During showings I always tell and explain my clients that you can change the color and the furniture is not going to be your furniture. My clients got a beautiful home with a great deal that they did not care about the bathroom without two vanities, ugly bathroom color or huge bedroom furniture. I told them when we got in the home, look at the floorplan, it is hard to change, look at amenities in the neighborhood and look at backyard size. They made changes and the house looks awesome right now in good location...
Sometimes home buyers get excited easily but it is our job to help them to make wise decisions.
- Jessica Reed, "jessica.reed"
- Contributions:151
And it is super cheap as well. One of my agents has a couple chairs and a desk that she uses and it has worked fantastic for all of our homes.
Staging Your Home for Sale
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- 0.0/5.0
Contributions:1The conversation is: Pricing will get you in the game and staging will get you the offers!
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