The overall appearance of a listed property, both inside and out, plays a crucial role in a successful sale. That simple fact is the driving force behind one of the fastest-growing trends in the real estate industry: home staging.

Home staging is a term readily recognized in West Coast markets and is increasingly being used in selling homes in the Midwest and Cary Grove area.  Home staging is simply the process of using professional consultation and assistance to enhance a home's visual appeal.

While factors such as location and asking price affect a listing's success, they are often out of a seller's control and are unlikely to convince a buyer to commit to a listing that they find aesthetically unpleasing. Sellers have long known that improving their home's appearance increases the likelihood of a faster sale or higher closing price.

Benefits of a Staged Home

Initially, home staging was primarily a tactic used by sellers of luxury properties who wanted to distinguish their homes from other high-end listings. Today staging is common within nearly every price range and niche market.

Home staging is particularly beneficial if your home is either currently vacant or is still your primary residence and has been for some time. In the case of vacant homes, staging livens up empty spaces and provides a visual frame of reference for buyers. If you have lived in listed property for several years, staging simplifies each room and allows the home's quality to speak for itself.

Many sellers in slowing markets use staging as a way to add value to the property. The tactic also works in highly active markets, as often a home staging sets the property above a list of comparable houses.

Ultimately, staging provides sellers an effective means of securing a competitive advantage.

Benefits of staged homes include:

• Faster sale

• More profit

• More competitive listings

How Does Home Staging Work?

It takes more than simple cleaning to make most homes attractive to wide range of buyers. A coordinated home staging highlights your home's strongest suits, masks its shortcomings, and generally helps the buyer imagine how the home might look if they lived there.

Home staging is commonly misconceived as a form of home decoration. In fact, the opposite is true: the purpose of home decoration is to individualize spaces in your home, whereas one goal of home staging is to reduce the personal touches you have added. By presenting furnishings, room arrangements, and decorating styles that are more universal, staging makes it possible for your home to impress a wider range of buyers.

Some examples of common home staging techniques:

• Re-painting bright walls to neutral, space-opening colors

• Removing excess furniture/furnishings to open up spaces

• Rearranging existing furniture to improve room flow

• Removing/replacing family photos & personal decorations

• Adding new lighting and/or window treatments

• Replacing current furniture with rented pieces

Depending on your home's features, The Mary Opfer Team will spend from 2-6 hours staging your home.  During our visit, we artfully arrange your existing furnishings and accessories to create warm and inviting spaces that will appeal to a wider audience.  We help you identify what you might consider packing away for your move.  Buyers who are reflecting on the 4 or 5 homes they viewed today are more likely to remember a staged home in which they:

• Were able to imagine their own furniture

• Lingered a bit longer (likely to do this in a more inviting atmosphere)

• Were not distracted by who currently lives there (family photos will only reduce the number of minutes a buyer is able visualize themselves living in your home)

• Were not distracted by existing décor (buyers are more influenced by what they see, than by how they imagine what could be)

• Were not distracted by clutter or poor traffic flow

When Should A Home Be Staged?

• Before the home goes on the market

• Before a Realtor tour, as Realtors have more confidence showing the homes they feel show well.

• Before an Open House.

For help with either staging or listing your home, please contact The Mary Opfer Team at REMAX Unlimited Northwest in Cary, Illinois, at (847) 516-6333.

Depending on the home, the Team may offer staging as part of the marketing plan for their sellers.  

Certain restrictions apply.  Call for details.