House-staging 101 for sellers
Plants help buyers feel relaxed. Other tips,
For Joe Hayden, a real estate agent in Louisville, Kentucky, staging is on his must-do list for sellers.
“Staging is so important,” says Hayden, who’s been in the business for more than 12 years. “We want buyers to be able to create an emotional relationship to the house and think it’s their home.”
That’s even more relevant at a time when most people begin house-hunting on their smartphones.
A seller’s listing photograph has to be “amazing” because that’s the first engagement people have with their property, Hayden says. “But all the great photos won’t mean a lot unless the subject is presented in the best light.”
According to the National Association of Realtors’ 2019 home staging study, 83% of buyers’ agents said staging made it easier for prospective owners to see the properties as their future homes. About half of sellers’ agents reported staging a home helped increase the dollar value offered by buyers anywhere between 1% to 20%.
“Every single home must get staged,” Hayden says.
Here are tips for presenting your home in the best light:
De-clutter and clean
De-cluttering and cleaning top the list of home-improvement tasks realtors recommend to their clients, according to the NAR study.
Without spending a ton of money, get your house clean, “from ceiling to floor, and wash the windows from both inside and outside,” says Caroline Harmon, trends and style analyst for retailer Lowe’s. “It will give your whole house a fresh pop. The more you can de-clutter or simplify, the easier it will be to sell your house.”
De-cluttering goes beyond removing your coffee pot or slow cooker from the kitchen counter. It means hiding garbage cans and pet litter; organizing coat closets, pantry and fridges; making sure toilets are clean and the lids down; and wiping off fingerprints and streaks on stainless steel appliances.
Depersonalize
The No. 1 advice Hayden gives to sellers: “Get out of the seller mind-set and pretend you are a buyer and objectively criticize your own home as a buyer. Think of those things that will block someone from having a relationship with the house,” he says. “A trophy case stacked to the ceiling doesn’t mean anything to the buyer.”
The idea is to allow buyers to have that “blank canvas” so they can envision themselves living there, Harmon says.
“Everybody takes pride in their home,” says Candace Hutchison, a professional stager for 13 years. “What we want to do is move your story out and create a story that speaks to a broader audience.”
Light and color
The play of light and color also is critical. “You want the house to look as bright as possible,” Hutchison says. “Psychologically, it really appeals to buyers. If you have dark curtains, take them out. … You don’t want any light bulb that’s amber in color. You want one that’s a bright daylight bulb.”
Making sure that lights work and match in each room is important. It also is critical to replace those compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) bulbs that take a long time to brighten, says Hayden, the Louisville real estate agent.
The use of accent pillows to match, say, a brown sofa or a new bed set, especially in the master bedroom, also helps, Hutchison says. In the bathrooms, even small ones, put in white fluffy towels that cost less than $10 apiece and some baskets with rolled towels, bath salt or pretty soaps.
“You want to dress it up and create that high-end hotel feel and a feeling that this could be a retreat,” she says.
Plants work wonders as people seek “that feeling of nature inside,” Lowe’s Harmon says. “It makes them feel calm and relaxed.”
Furniture
It’s critical to rearrange the furniture in a room so that people don’t see the back of a couch when they walk in, Hayden says. “You want to have ... a path to navigate the house without walking into a barrier.”
Hutchison says she often moves furniture, turning a chair to face a sofa so that pieces are “in a conversation with each other” instead of all pointing toward the TV. “It’s a real subtle invitation to address the family and not the TV.”
Cost
Homeowners can spend $200 to $500 buying a few planters, cleaning supplies, light bulbs and such things as trim baseboard paint or storage bins, Lowe’s Harmon says.
The median dollar value spent on home staging was $400, the study shows.
“Just don’t go out and spend $3,500 to repaint the house or have a new carpet,” Hayden says. “Somebody might want a different color. You could just give a credit to the buyer.”