The Why And How of Home Staging

By: Brendan Plouff

 

Winston Churchill once said, “We shape our dwellings, and afterwards our dwellings shape us” (Ranker). That is to say, we may create our environment, but that same environment may come to affect us in return. It is not difficult to see that our homes are a static, tangible representation of our personalities – for better or worse. And in the business of real estate this idea of a home’s personality is a tricky one. What creates a home’s character? The answer to this question is multi-faceted. At times, like I alluded to already, it’s the residents that give a home its personality, other times, however, it may simply be the architecture or the surrounding environment (Location! Location! Location!). These three, nonetheless, are not the only character builders of a home. Real estate agents and professional home stagers make a career out of bringing a home’s personality out. One could think of us as the talk show host, and the home as the celebrity who is there to promote its next project. We got to do what we can to highlight its strong points, so that everyone will want to buy a ticket to the show.

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 Why is home staging important? According to Jessie Culbert’s editorial on Redfin.com, “Why You Still Need Staging in a Seller’s Market,” the answer to this question is two-fold. First, it is about getting the most possible money for your home, and second, it’s about allowing the potential buyer to picture him or her self in that space. Each of these reasons needs to be explained in greater detail. Culbert calls online pictures of a home its “currency” and says that its important to make sure you arrange the home correctly right from the start, because a home gets three times more views in its first week online than at any other time in its listing lifespan. A home that is staged will make an average of 10-20% above list price on a 1-2% investment (Culbert). If that’s to be believed then staging gives you quite a return on your money, and it’s not hard to see the value added. I threw in the caveat, “If that’s to be believed” there, because not all real estate agents agree. For example, Henry W. Bailey published an article on Inman.com, “Does Staging Add Value to the Home Selling Process?” where he contends that many sellers put zero effort into how the home appears, yet they still manage to find a buyer who is willing to pay list price no problem. Bailey, however, does note that location is often a major factor in many of these cases. Furthermore, he explains the importance of de-cluttering and depersonalizing the home, so that the right photos can be captured to entice prospective buyers online. This, in its own way, does give value to staging, despite his attempts to take the counterargument. Maybe it’s not professional “staging” per se, with its style and décor meetings, where you discuss furniture rental, inviting draperies, and welcoming scents, but he is in fact advocating for a form of staging nonetheless. No one can deny that the aesthetics of a home matter – they can help you sell faster and for much more.  

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Now that you’re sold on staging, you may be asking yourself ‘how?’ Staging entails a lot of things and for each home it will be different.  One thing, however, that seems to be ubiquitous in staging, is depersonalizing the space. (I did say that real estate agents and professional stagers do their best to bring a home’s personality "out"). This brings us to the explanation of Culbert’s second reason staging matters: allowing the potential buyers to imagine themselves living there. It is about making a home seem live-able, not lived in. There are many things that real estate professionals do to achieve this affect.

 

It’s also important to note, as Bailey does, that a home needs to have a good basis to start from before any real staging can be done – nice neutral paint tones on the walls, new carpet or floors underfoot, and clean modern cabinetry in the kitchen, for example.

 

HGTV.com posted an insightful article by Leah Hennen entitled, “15 Secrets of Home Staging,” where she goes into extensive detail about each “secret” for home sellers to employ to get the most out of their property. I am not going to go into each of them here, but I will address the most important ones. Three of her tips have already been mentioned: de-clutter the space, put new faces on the kitchen cabinets if needed, and paint the walls neutral tones. The last of these can have, perhaps, the most dramatic effect. Paint is something that is mentioned time and time again in staging and home style articles, because it plays such an important role. Not only does it give a fresh look to something that may otherwise seem dated, it also helps define the mood and feel of a room. Darker colors for bedrooms and bathrooms will give a more intimate, inviting ambiance, while lighter tones in adjacent rooms such as the kitchen and living room will compliment each other in a way that makes the whole space appear bigger.

 

The corresponding paint is just one way to make a space appear bigger. One could also hang mirrors, which double the visual space of the room (Bologna). Moreover not only do mirrors increase the visual space, they also play a pivotal role in lighting a room. One of HGTV’s “Secrets” focuses on home lighting, because more than anything else, it is lighting that makes a home feel warm and welcoming. How do you make sure there is enough light? Hennen says that there should be 100 watts of light for every 50 square feet (Hennen). Moreover, a well-placed mirror will help enhance the lighting, and thus magnify the welcoming feeling.

 

Home staging may seem like a chore – too expensive and/or too much effort. Many home sellers might be hesitant to remodel and decorate a home, in which they are no longer going to be living, but I would suggest that they overcome their reticence. It has been proven time and time again that, not only does staging increase your profits as a seller, but also it will dramatically decrease the amount of time a home stays on the market. For as Shakespeare said, “If it were done when tis done, then ‘twere well it were done quickly.” That is, you want to sell you home above list price and fast, then it’s time to embrace home staging sooner rather than later. Remove your personality from the home and let a new character emerge.

 

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Sources

1. Bailey, Henry W. “Does Staging Add Value to the Home Selling Process.” Inman.com. Web. June-July. 2017.

2. Bologna, Caroline. “21 Décor Tips from Home Staging Experts.” Huffpost.com. Web. 28. March. 2018.

3. Culbert, Jessie. “Why You Still Need Staging in a Seller’s Market.” Redfin.com. Web. 22. February. 2018.

4. Hennen, Leah. “15 Secrets of Home Staging.” HGTV.com. Web. 30. December. 2017

5. Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Act I Scene VII. Signet Classic. April 1998.

6. “The Best Quotes About Home.” Web. Ranker.com. Winston Churchill.