Why stage?

When you’re selling a house, the question arises: should I have it staged? While the answer depends on your personal situation, there are many compelling reasons to stage.

Here are a few:

1) A home typically looks bigger with furniture in it. This is especially true with bedrooms, which can look tiny without furniture. In addition, buyers often don’t believe a master bedroom will be able to comfortably fit a queen-size bed without it taking up the entire space or having to trip on it every time you walk in. Without furniture, it can also be hard for potential buyers to visualize whether a living space is capable of holding a formal dining-room set, which can be important to some.

2) Furnishings and accessories can add color. This is particularly important if you’re looking to make your home more vibrant and visually interesting. The home that you see in the accompanying slideshow is essentially a box with a mezzanine at one end. Vacant, its straight geometry can make for a dull viewing experience, which is obviously not something you want when you’re looking to entice buyers.

3) Staged homes photograph better. It is far harder to visualize a home in real life when all you see online are vacant rooms. No furniture also means no scale or proportions – which in turn translates to no means of grabbing a buyer’s attention.

4) Staging helps hide a home’s flaws. A clear glass coffee table and love seat rather than a sofa can make a tiny room look far larger. In the same vein, a nicely accessorized kitchen can distract a buyer from noticing a lack of cabinetry or counter space.

5) You can pre-sell a home through staging. Agents who frequently stage and use internet marketing say that buyers who come to see their homes aren’t necessarily seeing them for the first time. Instead, they’re just making sure that what they saw online is accurate. Often they’re ready to buy the home the minute they walk through the front door.

Want more thoughts on the matter? Give me a call!

Dreaming of San Francisco? Cece Blase offers local advice to San Francisco buyers, sellers and owners– and feeds the dreams of those who wish they could live in Tony Bennett’s ‘City by the Bay.’ Call 415-577-0809 or email cblase@paragon-re.com. www.ceceblase.com