Staging to Sell - Design Thinking!

I will admit that Design Thinking was not coined by me - it is a phrase I recently heard that stuck with me. In a slow market buyers are looking for the sun, the moon and the stars in their purchases but are looking for rock bottom prices as well. So often we are asked to walk through a property and make suggestions on what should be done, where "fix up" money is best spent, what would be the best way to "stage" the home.

You, along with your agent, must assume that the potential buyer will not have the imagination to think of a particular area of your home as anything other than how it is currently portrayed. So, you're going to need to help them with their thought process. You're going to need to stage the home to suggest possibilities, not lock the buyer in to how you currently utilize the space.

Of course, de-cluttering is top on the list - make the space look as open and large as possible. De-personalize, too - personal family photos psychologically ties you to the house, and does not allow for the potential buyer to picture his own family there! Clean out closets and cabinets - if they're stuffed full, it's hard to imagine having enough room for their own stuff.

All of these things are sort of "no-brainers" - where the thinking comes in is how to push the imagination of the buyer. If you have a sitting room in the master but it is currently used as a "nursery" it might be a good idea to make some changes there - move the crib into a different room, place some "comfy" reading chairs, maybe a throw, a small book stand - let the potential buyer imagine the little "getaway" in the master suite! If you've got any of those odd sized rooms or rooms that just don't flow easily, a few well-placed items, small tables, chairs, etc - anything that might suggest just how that little oddball space might be used. We use a professional "stager" on some of our listings - she goes through the house and arranges what is already there to suggest uses and show the space to it's fullest. The cost of this service ranges from $200-$500. The $500 cost comes in if she "lends" some small accent pieces to the owner of the property. This is a small price to pay when quite often the result is offers and quite often a higher selling price.

Of course, this also points up the need in this market to hire an experienced agent, and also helps make the point that discount commissions are not going to spend the money that a top agent will spent in marketing a property. It's not all just websites and mailings, it's sometimes the little things people don't even think of at first that makes the difference, like professional staging!

I'll write more in a separate post about photography, virtual tours, etc., and the best use of these tools!

As always

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Comments, questions, cudos are always welcome!