The Importance of Staging Your Home Properly

When trying to sell your home, does it really make a difference if you have it staged or does it show better empty? Here is the inside scoop from a real estate expert, along with some other pointers on selling your home.

There are differing opinions on whether a home should be staged to look perfect, or whether people like to walk into a home that is completely empty; which is better?

This is such a common question. It is not at all uncommon to walk into a home that is empty, but in most cases, it is better to keep your home occupied with all of the furnishings. It is really difficult to create a warm, welcoming feeling when a home is empty. When you walk into a model home, the reason it looks like it does, is to create that sense of warmth. If you look at an empty room, it's hard to have an imagination. If you look at the same room with all of its furnishings it is much more inviting; you can imagine living in that space.

What are the benefits to having a home staged properly?

An empty room has no personality or warmth to it, whereas a room with furnishings is much more inviting. People like to feel welcome in a property and imagine themselves living there. Think about a dark, bare bedroom versus a furnished bedroom and you can understand why it feels much warmer and more inviting when the room is staged. People need to be able to see themselves living in the property. So it's best, if at all possible, to keep your things there. The key to staging is keeping things that are not cluttered and are very neat.

What about online photographs of a house? Should those be staged as well?

Yes, it is absolutely critical to make sure your home is staged when taking photographs for the listing. Those pictures will appear online and they are responsible for getting people through the front door. You can't get people through the door if they don't like what they see online. So those pictures online are absolutely crucial.

What if the sellers have already moved out of the home and all of their furnishings are gone? Is it smart to leave some things behind while trying to sell?

Believe it or not, there's a service available that can actually furnish the homes virtually. You can actually take an empty room and fill it with virtual furniture. So if you have already moved out of your house, you don't have to use photos of empty rooms as your means to get people in the front door. It is very important to get people in that front door which means it is very important to stage the home properly.

I cannot put enough importance on staging your property. Try to make it look like a model home. Years ago I listed a home that belonged to a Tennessee Titan player.; it looked like a great bachelor pad. There was a big stair stepper in the dining room, there were team jerseys on the walls, and there were guys magazines lying around. The home was not female friendly at all. And in my experience, if there is a women involved in the relationship, 80% of the time she's the one picking out what they are going to buy, or at least what they are going to look at. So having your home staged properly is absolutely crucial.