The Business of Home Staging

The Business of Home Staging

Home staging is becoming increasingly popular in the United States and is quickly becoming a highly sought out career. As the housing market begins to take new turns, people are starting to look for options to help sell homes more quickly and with higher bids. As the market becomes saturated with similar homes, staging offers a unique way to make an individual property stand out and to help a potential buyer envision their family inside the home.
Staging homes is a unique job that requires knowledge in many fields. In addition to knowing about the real estate market, a successful home stager must also have a keen decorative sense. Knowing what looks and pieces are popular offers great benefit, and the ability to create a room that accentuates benefits while downplaying flaws is absolutely crucial. Another area of expertise that can offer great benefit during home staging is psychology. The purpose of staging is to help prospective buyers envision themselves living in a particular space, and the ability to discern quickly what appeals to certain buyers can help you create this idea for them.

Studies show that staged homes spend significantly less time on the market. A big part of this is simply that home staging offers a depersonalized home that appeals to virtually everyone. Finding the right furniture and décor to fit any space is very important. Whether a room is large or small, finding the furniture that makes it look like every homeowner's dream is the key to a fast sale.

If you are considering a home staging business, it can offer great benefit to talk to other stagers or even to visit open houses in your area. When you get an example of what sells and what people are truly looking for, it can give you an edge over the competition. Many sellers are unaware of the staging process or simply feel that it is not necessary. By creating a property that makes it easy for every visitor to feel right at home, you are creating a home that can practically sell itself.

Home staging is truly a unique business. Few homeowners realize the amount of profit and reduced turnaround time that can be experienced by taking the time to hire a stager. If you have an eye for décor and an understanding of how to help create a home that everyone wants, the business of home staging might be perfect for you.

Selling Montreal Real Estate: 3 Easy Tips for Home Staging

Selling Montreal Real Estate: 3 Easy Tips for Home Staging

by Eric Giguere

Before you put your home on the Montreal real estate market, it's important to make sure that it shows at its best. Home staging is a great way to enhance the look of your home and gives it a better chance of selling quickly and for the price you want.

Home staging in the Montreal real estate market is a growing trend. Home stating has one goal in mind and that is to make sure the house looks like showroom quality. Home staging has statistically sold homes faster and for more money, so why not do a little staging of your own.

The point of home staging is to give the home a neutral look that will appeal to the most buyers. Before you hire a professional home stager, you may want to look at what you can do yourself to increase the value of you home.

The 3 Ds of Home Staging

1. De-clutter: Over the years of living in the same house, everyone has the tendency to collect material things which are usually end up in the basement or the garage or the attic. Clutter is deadly to selling a house and can seriously reduce the selling price. Take a quick inventory of your rooms and evaluate what you could remove to make more room. When showing the house ensure that nothing is on the floors, especially clothes, and that the kitchen counters are free of most things except for accent items. You can refer to a "Stager" specialist for how to and professional advice.

2. De-personalize: Your personal touches make a home out of your house, but they may also scare some buyers off. Remove anything that is of personal, religious or sexual nature. If you like family photos and have them pinned up on the walls, take them down and replace them with neutral artworks. If you value religion and have symbols and artifacts around the house remove those during the visits as the potential buyers may not be of the same faith. If you have artwork that is of a more adult nature, remove them also because it may offend some potential buyers. The benefits will greatly outweigh the cost.

3. Deep Clean: It's spring cleaning time. A deep clean is the best way to really make your house stand out. It's also one of the oldest trick in the sales book. The first thing used cars salesmen do when they get a new used car on the lot is to deep clean it and make it shine. Clean and dust everything that you don't normally clean. Windows inside and out, doors, windows and door tracts, light fixtures, top of cabinetry, behind and under couches, furniture and appliances, walls and ceilings, and anywhere else you don't clean on a regular basis.

Before every showing: DUST and WINDEX

If you are selling a home in Montreal, you want to make sure that it is in the best condition possible to get the most profit possible. You should do this even if you choose to list with an agent since a good agent would tell you to do the same. Actually, if you choose to invite agents into your home, you should do these simple tips before they come visit. That way they will get a good first impression about your house and make the experience that much more pleasant.