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What is Professional Home Staging?

"Home Staging" is the term now widely used to describe the action of getting your home ready for sale by ensuring the presentation is the best it can be.
But Professional Home Staging is much more than 'painting it all white and clearing the clutter!'
For many home sellers the concept of "professional home staging" is being increasingly recognised and used to effectively promote and market a home in the property selling marketplace.
While Real Estate agents are experts in the field of selling houses and closing the sale, many are not design savvy. Estate Agents usually know exactly what factors can help sell a home but it's not always that easy to get a home into selling condition in a timely manner without some sort of experienced assistance. Professional Home Stagers® stylists are practiced in the art of preparing a home for resale. They work with the "flow" of a home, eliminate clutter, edit out and re-arrange furniture, and even assist in enhancing drive by appeal. With the aid of a professional Home Stager® stylist, your house can make a notable first impression on potential homebuyers and in doing so help you to sell your home in half the time for up to 20% more.

First Impressions

The estate agent industry often stresses that the first impression is the key factor in selling your home. Typically, a potential buyer has made up their mind ten seconds after they step in the front door. They were already forming an opinion as they pulled up outside. That really doesn't leave too much room for not getting it right first time. Each viewing should lead to a potential offer. If it doesn't, it's another viewing wasted and another potential buyer lost. To achieve the greatest possible outcome a home should always be presented at its best from day one.

Setting the standard for Home Staging

Home Stagers® set the service standard for the delivery of Home Staging services in the UK, in 2001 by establishing the Home Stagers® Network. That’s why RNR Properties Ltd has teamed up with Home Stagers® Founder Tina Jesson to provide you advice on our website.

Tina Jesson, who first delivered home staging services in the negative equity days of the mid 90's. Tina went on to develop the 'Home Stagers® Professional' training programme. This programme has now been adopted by the British Academy of Home Stagers, which enables individuals from overseas to be trained to the same high standard.

All Home Stagers® Stylists, are professionally trained independent home staging consultants who are licensed by Home Stagers® Ltd to deliver the unique Home Stagers® service range here in the UK.

Need help from Home Stagers®? Then go to www.homestagers.co.uk or call Freephone 0800 542 8 952 and let us know you found our details on RNRproperties.co.uk

Case study

The owners of a large 6 bed roomed country house that had been trying to sell their property for over 3 years, first saw our article in the Sunday Times. In desperation they called Home Stagers® to assist them in selling their stuck property, after changing agents 3 or 4 times and with limited feedback they did not have much to go on. Home Stagers® flew to the rescue.

The retired couple were looking to downsize, the kids had flown the nest and they wanted to move into a smaller property and move on to the next stage of their lives. The property in question boasted many attractive features with beautifully landscaped gardens and a pretty exterior. The property however was adjacent to a railway line and the owners felt that this was probably the sticking point. After feeling very impressed with aesthetics of the property from the outside, internally it did not match up to any expectation that had been placed on the inside.

The house was a little dated and quite personal in taste, with swag curtains, pink carpets, strong colours or accessory schemes, etc. However the main internal negatives which had also been given by previous viewers, was the dark and dated kitchen and that the living room was too small for a property of that size. During the stylist's time assessing the property it also become apparent that some of the space was not being maximised or presented correctly, which was wasting valuable £ for sq metreage.

Essentially, we needed to overcome the objectives by rebalancing the property, maximising the space, neutralising the rooms, re-using and amending the curtains and removing as much personal tastes as possible. When you come to sell, how you present your property is completely different as to how you would prefer to live in it. Lastly, we needed to make the inside so much of a WOW that any buyer would be distracted enough not to worry so much about the railway line.

What happened next?

After doing the initial consultation and DIY project plan, we sat to discuss all the major points. The client needed time to digest what they were being advised, however we were delighted to know that instead of being overwhelmed by what needed to be done, the lady of the house in particular felt relieved that they were finally going to do something positive about the situation and they wished they had heard of us 3 years ago!

The couple were wonderful. They took on board the advice and embraced it and sometimes even went over and above the advice that was given because they wanted to get it perfect. When Home Stagers® are brought into give advice, we look to work with your budget as well as advising where you can save costs as its not always necessary to spend vast amounts to improve the feel of a room.

The process

Once the carpets were replaced, curtains simplified, some rooms redecorated, and the owners decided to replace the kitchen, a huge part of the final transformation was the hands-on staging and shopping which was essential to neutralise as well as maximise each room. Firstly we went through the rooms to see if there was anything that we could reuse and then the clients worked hard to pack up and remove as much personal memorabilia and display items as possible before the final staging commenced.

One of the main rooms we wanted to concentrate on was the family living space as feedback had been it was too small, however the property boasted a 2nd living space that was huge to the rear of the property with dual aspect panoramic French doors overlooking the garden, that was being completely underutilised. We agreed that we would have free reign on transforming this space so that it could be turned into a wonderful large family living space and that the original living room would be staged as a "drawing room", which was perfectly placed for this function next door to the dining room.

It was essential for the stylist to transform this room into a major wow factor and it was my intention to ensure that this living room reflected the calmness of the gardens and we worked on bringing the outside inby using natural colour schemes and lots of textures.

Another important area for us to concentrate on was the personalised master bedroom, its uninspiring dressing room and its pink en-suite. Whilst we did not have budget for the bathroom, once we changed the carpets to cream and used contrasting accessories, the pink soon faded into the background. The pink was then carried through to both the master bedroom and dressing room whilst introducing softer tones such as warm chocolate, caramel and creams to give it a welcomed balance. The stylist had so much fun creating the dressing room into an inspiring place to be, as most women dream of having their own mirrored room and we felt it essential to play on this ideal. Using "Florentina" the mannequin, shoes boxes, hats and a pretend fur coat, the room was dressed with carefully selected items in the chosen colour scheme from the owner's accessories and also from the stylists own Home Stagers® toolkit. The result was an imaginative room which everybody fell in love with.

The attic was a complete misuse of space, as it housed sparingly a number of items that the family no longer used making it look bare, uninviting and did not do much for the imagination. Using items from around the garage, house and bits left in the attic, we turned this into a games room. It was a successful use of space done cost effectively, which appealed to the sense of the young members of our family audience.

The results

The team of Home Stagers® stylists spent the best part of a week staging 17 rooms to get things ready.
We were immensely proud of the final result as the rooms looked stunning. Watching the owners reactions after we walked them round (we had agreed that were not to peek prior into the rooms until it was finished, so they could the full surprise of it) was an extremely satisfying experience as they couldn't believe the difference and were close to tears. They felt we "had done them proud".
Success?

Part of our agreed role was to work alongside the estate agent to market the property and plan an open day. Initially, the agents and the owners were against doing an open day, as they had done one previously together without any success, however after seeing the final result of the staging, we gently persuaded them that having your property staged for an open day is a proven and successful strategy for selling.

Once the property was ready, the agent valued it at £125k more than the original valuation which was fantastic news and if the new asking price was achieved not only would they sell it but also make some additional return on their investment.

The transformed magnificent country house went on the market during an open day on the Saturday where they buyer fell in love with it and offered close to the new asking price!! SOLD!

How To Get A Quicker Sale In An Ever Changing Market

So what are Tina’s top tips for helping to sell your home quickly in an ever changing market? One of the first things she advises is that you need to emotionally detach yourself from the idea that it’s YOUR home. “People need to mentally move out and view the property as something they need to sell – very much like selling a car,” she says.

You should start packing away possessions that you can do without or do not need for the foreseeable future, as early as possible. Those items that you can do without can be sold or donated to a charity shop. Not only will the home be freed of clutter and be easier to sell but you’ll have a head start when you come to move. “Look at the extra space you’ve created, and having get rid of the stuff you’re not going to take with you,” Tina advises. “You’ll have more space to put out the things you do want display once you have moved"

Lighting is very high on the importance list – a gloomy home is not appealing - so just before prospective purchasers arriveto view it, switch all the lights on. “If you’re showing your house on a grey day it can appear quite bleak,” she says. “It doesn’t matter how well presented the property is, it’s not going to sell if it’s dark and dingy. Getting the lighting right is probably the easiest and simplest thing you can do – the actual cost is very small but it does make a big impact.”

First Impressions

Making a good first impression on potential buyers is essential, and you can employ a strategy to achieve this. “We call it drive-by desirability,” says Tina. “More often these day's, prospective purchasers drive by a property before deciding whether they’re going to arrange a viewing, so if you’ve got shabby curtains in the windows, the front door hasn’t been given a coat of paint (or a good clean if uPVC) for a couple of years and the garden is overgrown and full of weeds, you’re not going to give a good impression. If a property looks untidy on the outside, people assume it’s not going to be nice on the inside either and this puts them off viewing.”

There are obvious benefits to maximising the appeal of your home and Tina sees a time when every homeowner who is considering putting their property on the market will automaticaly bring in home staging services prior to having the Estate Agent round. This seems entirely possible given that the money people spend on the fees is generally cancelled out or even exceeded by the value added after a professional Home Stagers® Stylist has worked their magic.

Getting a higher price than expected on a sale is certainly something most people would find hard to resist.

Here are Tina's Top Tips For A Quick Sale

1. Everyone thinks - 'My house will have no trouble selling' - Don't be too sure - having a clean, tidy and clutter free house is not going to be enough.

2. Price is the first factor. ALWAYS get 3 valuations from Estate Agents and take the middle not the highest price. Don't force your agent to put it on at a price you want if he suggests a lower price. If he says 'we'll test the market' he means he'll knowingly put it on at a high price with a view to reducing later, after you've had all the interest. Don't do it. Unless you're not serious of course.

3. If it is overpriced you'll soon be able to tell. You need to be getting at least 5 viewings in the first week. If you get less than 5 in as many weeks, then the price is not right - but then it's too late. A price reduction now will have people thinking.'what's wrong with that house?'.

4. Revise your sales details with your agent. Don't just sign them off so you can get it advertised quickly. If the details aren't right or the pictures aren't great, you'll lose the interest at your marketing launch - get them right from day one: Here are the things to check.

• Are all the pictures the best they could be and taken on a sunny day? If not get them retaken.
• If your internal space could look better, then rearrange a few things and get the internal photos retaken
• A well presented set of details will bring people into your home and the more viewers you have, the closer you are to clinching that sale.

5. Think about the presentation of your house. It's more than having magnolia walls and clearing the clutter. Professional home staging is the only way to guarantee the best presentation for your home. And make sure you have it dressed BEFORE the photos are taken.

6. Organise an open day or weekend with your estate agent and have escorted viewings done by the experts. A house empty of the family can be more appealing to potential buyers and it takes the stress off you for a day or two.

7. Statistics show that people often drive-by before committing to a viewing. So present a tidy frontage, have a neatly mown lawn, hanging baskets, and pots of colour.

8. You start to get people through the door, but how can you convince them your house is right for them? You need to be a salesperson to do that and let's face it if you're not you will need some help. Here's my top tips for selling your property to your potential buyer.

• Know which order you are going to show your viewers around in. Start with the best room down stairs and finish with the best upstairs. Do a dry run and practice what to say.
• Focus on the good points and on positive reasons why you want to move. Never talk about the DIY projects you've done or say the house is too small!
• Know your local area, amenities, shops, bus stops and schools. These are all very important points people need to know about before they move in to a house.

9. Follow up each viewing with your agent. Some are great at getting back to you and giving you feedback. Listen carefully if you're serious about moving.

10. The first offer you get could well be the best one you will ever get, especially if the market is slow. If it's within five per cent of the asking price you'd be a fool not to take it. Hold out for as much as you can get and you could still be on the market next year!