Will You Sell Your Home In 8 Seconds?

by Connie Williamson

Prospective home buyers form negative, or positive impressions during the first eight seconds of the initial viewing of a listing . These first eight seconds can make or break a sale.

What kind of impression does your home register in a buyer's mind? That first impression is key to getting the buyer into the right frame of mind to focus on the positive features throughout rest of the tour.

There is hope for even the shabbiest home, it is possible to find a cost- effective way to ensure that your property shows well from first-to-lasting impressions.

When a home is presenting well, the seller's/realtor's enthusiasm communicates positive vibes to the buyers. It carries over to help buyers form the right first impression.

If your property hasn't been getting the attention you think it deserves, maybe it's time to call in the professionals. No matter how clean and tidy the home may be, a professional home stager can turn your property into one that will appeal to the widest range of buyers. When your home is showcased to its fullest potential, it has a better chance of standing out in a crowded market. This means you've gained an edge over the competition and have more chances to sell for list price, or better and it's likely your property will sell faster.

Having your home staged can make that difference. Home staging is a process whereby professionals enhance the appeal and 'look' of your home to prepare it for sale. Although, at first glance, it may seem like a simple, commonsense task to prepare the property for good presentation, there are actually many complex techniques involved in staging a property. Simple methods are:

There's much, much more. And then there's the outside too! Staging is a design art involving, knowing the local market, realty trends within that market, color, form and structure in décor and an unbiased eye.

Do you know what improvements you need to make to increase your home's value? Do you know there are costly improvements some people undertake that will NOT make a difference in the value of the home? A good home stager can tell you where you should spend and where you can cut corners.

It’s possible for the original Edmonton home owner to stage the home in a huge do-it-yourself project. Not only is that very tiring and time-consuming; without a knowledge of the real estate industry or interior and landscape design, it is usually a waste of time.

It is difficult for an owner, who considers the house their own home, to depersonalize. When you are emotionally linked to a house, it’s hard to take your personality out of it, to change it in an effort to make it look different. A professional stager knows what buyers are looking for, the stager can spot the best features of your home right away and create a showcase for those features that will eliminate the personal but create a lasting good impression for your viewers.

In other parts of the world, home staging may not be part of the normal sales process, but for those in the UK, US, and Canada (including Edmonton), it’s common for sellers to employ the services of a home staging professional before listing the property for sale.

Home staging has shown consistently higher sales figures in amazingly short time spans.

The findings of a US study - on the effectiveness of the staging process and its importance to sales results - were staggering. The conclusions were: the length of time a staged home remains unsold is reduced by 50% and the perceived increase in value of the staged property sees a rise in the sale price of almost 15% or more!

While finding a home stager is not difficult in Edmonton, Canada where home staging is a common practice, sellers should be particularly careful whom they engage. There are, at present, no industry standards as far as home staging is concerned. The industry is not regulated or governed by any one body in Edmonton. Therefore, each professional home stager has their own personal tastes and preferences that will influence the final end-result. Results based on the stager's decision-making process will vary depending upon the experience, and style of the home stager.

A professional in Edmonton, Canada would have his or her own ideas on how to make the property fetch a higher price tag, but generally speaking, most home stagers try to make the home appear to be more spacious, cleaner and neutral. Comfort and calm is also the kind of impression home stagers will try to give potential buyers.

While home staging works best with Edmonton luxury homes, even small apartments and condos benefit tremendously when staged professionally. In fact, we would go as far as to say, small spaces can benefit even more from a good staging job to create the feeling of more space and comfort.

So, if you have a home to sell in Edmonton and want it to present well, to sell quickly and to fetch the highest price, home staging is definitely something you should look into.

Serenity Redesign is Edmonton's leading some staging company. Contact us to discuss what we can do for your property today.

Back to article list

About The Author

For more information on home staging please visit Serenity Redesign at http://www.serenityredesign.com, or contact Serenity's home staging expert, Connie Williamson at (780) 417-9521 or connie@serenityredesign.com.