Do you REALLY need to Stage your house before listing?

The short answer is: YES! Yes, you do need to stage it. (Get our FREE Staging Guide!) 

Many homeowners look at what Stagers do and think, “It’s not that hard, I can do that.” While for some that is true, but for others it is quite an undertaking. Home Staging is more than throwing some pillows onto a couch and calling it good. 

WHAT IS HOME STAGING?

Home Staging is a marketing tool designed to help sell your house faster and for you to get top dollar on the sale. It highlights those WOW factors of the house while lessening those ugly things about it. It is creating spaces that the most amount of people would love to use. Your potential buyers don’t want to buy your house as your house. They want to buy it as their house. Stagers de-personalize the space so that the most amount of people can see themselves living there, can imagine their kids running up and down the stairs, imagine where their Christmas tree will go, and the parties that they’ll throw for their friends. They don’t care about the parties that you had thrown in the past. They way you use your house, is not necessarily the way they would use it. 

 WHY YOU SHOULD HIRE A PROFESSIONAL

Are you able to detach yourself from the emotions of it being your home in order to do what needs to be done? A professional will come in and tell you what things stand out that should be changed or fixed. Like that top step you’ve been meaning to paint for the last 5 years that you don’t really even notice anymore, but a buyer will see it right away.

What color couch are you going to get? What material? How will you mix it with artwork, decorative items, rugs, lamps, new paint colors? What size area rug do you need? Does this vase go in this room? What’s the focal point? How are you going to arrange it in the room? Does it have a good flow? Would the majority of people feel comfortable and at ease in the room? How can you make the room feel bigger? How is it going to look in photographs?  Do you have the time to do all of this?

As you can see, there are a lot of things to think about. Not just listing it and calling it good. Which is why you need a professional to prepare it. For the same reason you are enlisting a professional Realtor to list the house, you should also have a Stager on your team.  You wouldn’t DIY stitches on your son’s arm even though it looks like a fairly simple process. I mean, we all had to take Home Economics in school right? Surely you can sew a few straight stitches! What’s that? No, you can’t? Me neither. That’s why I rely on the professionals who specialize in it.

Don’t leave money on the table because you had to reduce your asking price... twice! Then hire a Stager because your place isn’t getting any hits. Skip the agony of reducing and go straight to the solution in the first place.

PRICE

Home Staging isn’t cheap. It shouldn’t be ungodly expensive either. Here’s some fun facts to think about: Staging will be less expensive than your first price reduction. You should get a higher offer on the house than you would have without it. Your listing will look much better in online photos, which will lead to more showings. Typical time on the market will be lowered when the house is staged. The cost should be looked at as an investment into your house, which will more than pay for itself on the back end.

CAN YOU DO IT YOURSELF? 

Yes, you certainly can. I highly suggest getting a consultation done so that you know what you should be doing to your home to make it appeal to the broadest buying pool. There are also many books written on the topic too.

You can download the Zoe Homes General Guide to Staging here for FREE!

WHAT IS A CONSULTATION?

A Professional Stager will come to your property and walk through it with you. You can ask questions and take notes as they let you know what their trained eyes see. They can talk to you about furniture placement, what items should be removed, where to place wall art and what’s the best use of the space. They will give you tips for the day of photography and tips for showings.  Zoe Homes, LLC will also give you a "General Staging Checklist" when we do our Walk-N-Talks. If you want a more in depth list that is completely personalized to your home, we offer a Written Consultation. We will take pictures and prepare an in-depth PDF for your home with everything that we see that could use some help. It's really easy to follow and spells out exactly what you should be doing. A Consultation service will run between $150-$300 depending on your location and the experience of your Stager.

Hopefully you now see why it is imperative that you have your place staged before listing it. It’s important to have a professional do a Consultation at the very least. You will save yourself time, frustration and money.

If you’re in the Denver Area, we’d love to help you prepare your property for a successful sale! Visit our website, Email, text or call us to set up an appointment! 303-847-9951

Good luck and happy selling!