2018 Home Staging Stats

alki chair.jpg

The Impact on Buyers

Home staging works because it considers the wants and needs of buyers and taps into their emotions when searching for a home.

  • Realtors who work with buyers say most buyers are willing to offer more money for a staged home compared to one that is similar but not staged.
  • 81% of buyers say home staging makes it easier to visualize the property as their future home.
  • 45% of buyers say it will positively impact the value of the home if it is decorated to the buyer’s tastes.
  • Among REALTORS® who typically represent the buyer, 49% report most buyers are affected by home staging.

Staged Homes Sell Faster

To sell your home faster, it must stand out from the competition and create a strong first impression.

  • The National Association of Realtors (NAR) survey found that the longer homes stay on the market, the further their price drops.
  • Once staged, homes spend an average of 73% less time on the market.

Home Staging Increases the Perceived Value

Home staging is all about showing your home in its best possible light.

  • Buyers are willing to spend 1% to 5% more of the dollar value on a staged home than a non-staged home.

As they say, the proof is in the pudding – or in this case, the fast home sale.

Stage It - Sell It - Stats provided by The National Association of Realtors (NAR) 2018

"Merchandising" Your Space for Buyers

1.png

We want buyers to make the transition of logically deciding to visit your home (because it fits their size/location criteria) to emotionally "seeing themselves and their family living in your home" since we know that this transition is what will provide you with offers!

Not all buyers may even entertain, BUT they ALL envision a lifestyle of entertaining…interesting isn't it?  What people do and what they actually dream of doing are two very different things.  We want to create spaces that buyers can dream of or "aspire to" and position those spaces to your buyer demographic.  The below chart helps you to creatively view the differences between the "vision" we are trying to create for buyers who walk through your home and the way we typically live!

     Remember!  We need to put on our most critical Buyers Eyes, in order to market and merchandise your most valuable product!  Do not be self-conscious since people do not and should not live in "staged homes!"  That's the beauty of redecorating and redesign!

BUYER ASPIRATION CHEAT SHEET

Buyers Aspire to:    

  • Expensive things like paintings, wood, silver and glass
  • New and modern things that signify fresh and clean "updated décor"
  • Trends that are timeless
  • The good life of travel, entertaining friends, gourmet cooking, wine tasting, espresso drinking and a luxurious, leisurely lifestyle
  • Electronically savvy (Think flat screens, surround sound and laptops)
  • Light and Spacious surroundings
  • Harmonious and updated color combinations

Buyers do not Aspire to:

  • Cheap things like plastics, particle board or aluminum
  • Old and dated items that signify tired and dirty
  • Fads that are tiresome
  • The boring life of 8 to 5, dreary, plain, vanilla and uninspiring.  (Notice this is usually how many agents stage by getting rid of any traces of life or décor)
  • Electronically last century (Tube TV's, wires galore and big stereo speakers)
  • Dark and Cluttered spaces
  • Clashing, non-rhythmic, half-hearted color choices done on the fly

Hands On Exercise - Grab one of your favorite home magazines or catalogs and flip through the pages.  You will see that every photo is "visually merchandised" to create a longing in the viewer.  We want to create that same merchandising vision in every room of your home!
 

*Ask us about the Top 10 Reasons to Stage
Send us an email at info@gardelladesigngroup.com will send you back our list - for FREE!

The "FEEL HOME" Staging Philosophy

relax.jpg

GARDELLA DESIGN GROUP believes that successful staging is the art of using marketing and design techniques to create an environment that buyers can “aspire” to.  “If I buy this house, I can live like this.”  At GARDELLA DESIGN GROUP we use the art of “positioning” to create several “emotional connection points” throughout the home so that when the buyer steps into the house they “feel home.”  This is it.  This is the one.  

What does “feeling home” look like?  For GARDELLA DESIGN GROUP, it’s a combination of eight things we analyze in each room in order to create a lasting impression for the homebuyer:

First Impressions - We will walk through your home room by room, taking note of our first impressions, what grabs us, what glares at us, and what gives us a feeling of home. 

Eliminating Clutter - The packing starts now, as we pack away a good percentage of everything in the room in order to create a more clean, open and spacious feel.

Emphasizing the positive while downplaying the negative - Finding your beautiful focal points, we will emphasize what we love about the room and hide or distract the negative aspects of the rooms.

Lighten Up - Focusing on lighting and color, we will make each room into a bright, warm and inviting space buyers can respond to.

Home Buyer’s Appeal - In order for a buyer to “feel home,” they need to not be reminded of this being your home.  We’ll depersonalize the space while retaining the warmth and fun of photos.

Obligations - Cleaning and repairs - The dirty work speaks for itself but is often overlooked because you’ve lived here for so long.  Let’s get rid of the buyer’s mental repair list by doing it ourselves.

Modernizing - This involves updating your style and building simple accessories out of what you already have to create clean lines and form.  In some cases, we’ll recommend purchases as valuable investments in the staging process.

Emotional Connection Points - Creating the “Wow Factor” - This is the fun part and is a huge focus of our positioning strategy.  We’ll show you how to build in these subtleties in order to make the buyers subconsciously desire to live here and “feel home.”  The “emotional connection points” are where marketing strategy really comes in to play.
 

 

Millennials Hard-Wired for Minimalism

iStock-623267900.jpg

Millennials 18-34 years old make up a quarter of the US population and workforce.  Decluttering is their middle name.  The "experience" vs acquiring "things" is what they live for.  Millennials are savvy at technology, travel (they do have the income) and gravitating to urban communities vs the "burbs" where Mom and Dad, baby boomers, struggled to maintain.  Living simple, being kind to the environment and to their fellow humans means more to them then shopping at the mall.  If they do shop, it's a quick online purchase targeting their exact need.

Millennials are delaying home buying until they have entered their 30's.  Beyond the tiny house trend that Millennials have gravitated to, when they do buy a home, it's in the neighborhood of $1 million.  Most bypass the mid-range homes for bigger on the first buy.  Often, they have waited to get married, which might explain the average age of a homebuyer is 36 years old.  The family dog, believe it or not,  is another key reason Millennials buy homes.  Apartment rentals cannot accommodate the life of a Millennials best friend, nor the basement of Mom's house. Builders have jumped on this bandwagon and are accommodating the lack of home inventory, by building 5,000+ square foot homes, or high rise buildings to capture this important buyer.  Bottom line:  There's money in those walls!  

Staging the mid-range home is critical, after all they are still in existence and in our marketplace.  Staging these type of homes for the quick sale, must be done with the minimalist and technologist in mind.  Many miss these key emotional points.