You have 6 SECONDS to make a powerful first impression to a homebuyer. 6 seconds! When you walk into a room, or a home in general, the space’s aesthetic has a very real energy that effects your mood. It changes how you feel and think, and design not only influences this, but creates it. Buyers want to find their lifelong home, but it can start to feel defeating when things don’t go to plan- and most of the time… life never goes to plan! Frankly, finding a home is exhausting. Exciting, but exhausting. There’s a point in the process where a buyer is asking, no begging, for a house to stand out to them.
This is where we come in: Home Staging. The ultimate marketing tool. Making sure a house looks not only amazing, but also memorable to a buyer can be such a headache. I mean, where do you start? When all these houses are blurring together, you want to make sure your listing stands out. You need to create that feeling I was talking about. Sellers can use countless tools and platforms, but nothing can recreate what a buyer sees and experiences when they walk into a house for the first time. It’s important that they are able to envision themselves living in the space, which connects them on an emotional level. This is the ultimate way to market! And it sells everything- especially a house.
Let’s get to some real statistics and studies to back up everything we’re saying. I mean, home staging was making such an impact on the market, that the National Realtors Association actually STUDIED it. Pretty cool. 83% of buyers’ agents say staging a home made it easier for a buyer to visualize the property as a future home and 62% of sellers' agents say that staging a home decreases the amount of time a home spends on the market. A win-win for both sides!
So now that we know staging is a no brainer, let’s switch gears to the rooms and furniture we typically use. We recommend staging a whole property for the best effect and results, but the most important rooms for a lasting impact are the living room, master bathroom, and kitchen; the places where families spend the most time. And the design? For staging, we like to keep it clean, minimal, neutral, but absolutely never boring. Unfortunately, your grandmother’s pink doilies aren’t something that everyone will love (but we’re sure they’re adorable). We look at each room with a fresh pair of eyes, seeing strengths and weaknesses, and design each room in the best possible light (literally) to sell.
I’m going to do a throwback here. Remember when The Sims came out? The first thing you’d do with your Sim (who usually resembled you in some way) was build a house! Then the hardest part was figuring out the furniture, wall paint, and what could go where. Selecting the right couch and chair sizes, rotating it to face a different direction, and then finding small little decorations under the “miscellaneous” category. How much fun was that? Well, that’s what we actually do in real life… and we love it! Although sometimes we wish the manual labor was as easy as a drag and click, we love staging a home and creating a space that is both functional and visually satisfying to a client.
First impressions count. It’s such a cliché saying, but that’s because it’s true! Your brain makes judgments subconsciously before you even realize it’s happening. Thankfully, it’s easy to design and market a space that will make that subconscious first impression turn into a memory of buying a home.
As always, we appreciate any ideas, input, and feedback from our community and clients. So drop us a line in the comments below, chat with us on our Facebook page or email us at josh@joshuaallendesign.com!
1 National Realtors Association 2017 & 2019 Profile of Home Staging
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