Staging a Home to Sell in Nothern VA

General Real Estate News/Trends, Real Estate Strategy

The following 2 articles were submitted by a local Northern VA real estate stager after I requested she send me some pieces I could post on the subject. I've seen how staging impacts buyers and recommend the investment. If you are using me to list your home I usually pay for the staging services myself as part of my service to you....

jay

Selling your home? Don't leave it empty.

By: D. Malden

Here is the scenario: you have to move next month to a new home in another State. You hope to sell your existing home quickly but in the interim it will sit on the market desolate. What to do? You pack up all your things and leave your sale in the hands of your competent Realtor, right? WRONG!!!

Instead, you need to leave your current home in a state that is appealing to the average home buyer. An empty house will NOT evoke warm emotions from a potential buyer. Go "shopping" in your own home and look for items that you can live without for a couple of months. Grab a chair, a bookshelf, and maybe a faux plant. Check with friends and family for items that you can borrow on a short-term basis. Choose things to create ambiance and impose a sense of "home" for your potential buyer.

80% of home buyers begin their home search on the Internet. Many will not view a home if the online pictures and/or virtual tour offer a poor representation of the property. If you were shopping for a home, which picture below would make you want to view the property?

Before Vacant Staging

After Vacant Staging

Prior to staging this condo sat on the market for over 6-months. After staging, the owners received an offer in 7-days, and it later sold.

For more on home staging visit: http://www.interiorconceptdesigns.com/ or call 571-264-1747.

We offer Professional Home Staging services in Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC. Furniture and accessory rental is available.

Interior Concept Designs

Don't Reduce the Price, Stage Your Home for Sale

Home Staging CAN make a difference when done the right way. Interior Concept Designs offers Professional Home Staging in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, DC. We were contacted by the listing Realtor on this Reston town home a week before it was going to be listed. She was panicked because she needed a Staging Consultation, there was no furniture in the dining room, she needed furniture for the sunroom and she needed this all done in less than one week! "NO PROBLEM" we said. We specialize in meeting tight deadlines. We keep an inventory of furniture, artwork and accessories on hand; this allows us to provide a quick turnaround time for our customers. (See why NOT to sell a vacant listing here)

We scheduled an appointment to do the initial consultation, and then followed up with a detailed, written report for the home owner. This report is essentially a "to-do" list for the homeowner to get their home ready for potential home buyers. In this case, the "to do" list was the precursor for our arrival and mainly included packing and moving several larger items to storage.

We arrived two days before the open house and immediately got to work. We re-arranged the furniture in the basement to establish two functional areas and a focal point. We brought in accessories to accentuate the home-owner's existing furnishings. On the main level, we re-arranged the furniture in the living room, hung artwork, and brought in furniture for the dining room and sun room.

We were finish a few hours later and the house looked amazing. The house went under contract the same day it was listed to the first buyer that walked in the door. The sellers didn't even hold their open house.

Is Home Staging worth the money? After reading the story above and seeing the pictures below....you decide. Similar units in the same neighborhood are sitting on the market for 45+ days at a lower price. Two-days after this house went under contract, we got a call from another home-owner in the same neighborhood who wanted her home Staged. Her home had been on the market for 60-days and was priced $20,000 below the unit we just Staged.

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