Home Staging

Home Staging...

                                Is it something you should consider doing?

Staging a home has become popular due to TV shows such as Sell this house and Designed to Sell. Staging a property is the act in which a home owner prepares their property to be put on the market. The motive is to have a higher number of buyers interested in the property therefore resulting in higher bids and a quicker selling frame.

Home staging is not interior decorating. An interior decorator will find out more about their client and make sure the home is to the clients taste. A home stager will decorate the property in such a way as to appeal to a larger number of buyers . This results in a property styled similar to a hotel, impersonal yet warm and inviting.

An example of a typical home staging process starts with a consultation. At the consultation a home stager will take measurements of the property which will be used as a floor plan and for quoting purposes. The home stager will take photos of all areas of the home and its contents. You will discuss budgets and time frames for the project. It is important to get into the mind frame that the residence you are selling is no longer your home, it is a large, high valued item that you are selling and as such deserves the best possible opportunity on the market.

A quotation is supplied after the consultation outlining what work needs to be completed and the allocated time frame for the project. This can include items such as: garden services, professional cleaning services, repainting walls, changes of light fixtures and handles on cupboards. It will always incorporate the best furniture layout for the room and neutral colour schemes.  The spaces will be decluttered and depersonalised.  You can select either the whole quotation, parts of the quotations or a DIY option.  The DIY option gives you a to do list including estimates and a floor plan with photos of  each area of the home. This is a good option for sellers who have time on their hands and can complete general handyman work.

Once a quotation is accepted the jobs get carried out, this is normally done during the week before an open house weekend. Home staging does not hide problems with the home, they fix problems before putting the house on the market. When the project is completed, professional photos are taken and you are issued with a copy of all photos, these can be used for advertising your property. The better your photos are the better the interest will be in the residence for sale.  Most buyers search the internet when looking for a new home, if yours does not stand out at this stage you will not get  many interested buyers.

Some home stagers will charge a percentage of the asking price of the property, others will charge per hours  worked on the project but most will charge for the work done on the project. Regardless of how your home stager charges it will be pay for itself. If a property has not been staged and is not considered a "ready to move in" home the buyer will negotiate to get a better price and will substantiate his negotiations by all the work he will need to do to get the home ready for his family. This results in a R50'000 to R100'000 decrease from the asking price and if you don't have enough willing buyers you might just have to take the best offer, even if it is not  the asking price. A home seller should take responsibility for selling their home, an estate agent is a very important factor but the estate agent only has what you give them, to work with... Using the services of a home stager will be cheaper than negotiating a lower selling price with a willing buyer.

Using a professional home stager will add value to your property , save you time and save you money.

So should you consider staging your home?

You can contact Lavonne Cole on 012 548 0068 / 079 439 4937 / lavonne@colehouse.co.za or view her website at www.colehouse.co.za