Home Staging in Canberra
If you knew someone that was thinking about selling their home soon and you asked them if they were going to have it staged, more often than not they would probably just stare at you blankly having no understanding what you are talking about or confuse it with decorating.
Property styling is a relatively new service provided in Australia with only the well-to-do or those ‘in the know’ even aware of the possibility of staging their home for sale. Surprisingly it has been a flourishing industry in the US, Canada and UK for over 35 years. It has now reached a point where nearly all homeowners do not even consider selling their home unless it has been staged by a professional. It is still relatively unknown here in Australia but the demand to make your home stand out against increasing competition is growing.
Home staging or simply just ‘staging’ as it is commonly referred, is growing in popularity as the best way to improve the marketability and appeal of a home for sale. It is crucial that the potential buyer can picture themselves living in the home, and by showcasing the home in such a way that appeals to the emotion of the buyer they are more likely to get that sense of excitement that triggers the buy emotion and make them say ‘Yes, I can definitely see us living here’.
Home staging is often called ‘property styling’ especially in Australia. However, it is significantly more than simply styling; providing rental furniture, accessories and giving the home a clean and declutter. A professional Home Stylist focuses on looking at the home through the buyer’s view point and utilising buyer psychology to increase the marketability of the home. Professional home stagers, certified with an Australian Certified Staging Professional (ACSP®) accreditation, are professionals qualified specifically to understand how to do this effectively.
In today’s soft market, with consumer confidence low and uncertain times with the housing market, buyers are becoming scarce. A professional and qualified property styling is a vital member of the marketing team in order to make a property stand out from all the other properties on the market.
Let’s look at a simple example; if there are 4 homes selling in the same locality that are all of a similar size and price bracket, what is it that makes one home stand out over the others? More often than not the home that can make the buyer feel most at home and trigger the emotion of wanting to live there is the home that will sell the fastest. Staging creates that ‘wow’ factor needed to sell quickly.
Australia has been through a boom time in property for many years where almost any property would sell quickly and quite often above the listing price. But this is no longer the case. In today’s property market those houses that are less desirable will simply sit on the market for longer. This will increase the frustration and stress in selling the home as home owners may be required to reduce their asking price while also continuing to make mortgage payments over the longer time frame. It is a double loss scenario for the owner.
By having your home staged by an accredited ACSP® home stylist, your investment in preparing your home for sale will always be less than the increased holding costs and price reduction on your property. Home staging statistics from over 30 years of data from the US indicates that staged home will sell on average 7-12% higher and 58% faster than property’s not staged. This means that your return on investment could be well exceed over 250% in the return on equity you will receive.