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Home staging has become a key and proven-effective strategy in preparing your home for sale. Where it once might have been sufficient to clean, organize and declutter your space, it’s now become more important than ever to really go the extra mile and ensure your property stands out. 

Staging your home will ensure it’s best features are showcased in a neutral and universally-appealing way. Professional stagers will know how to “dress your space” in order to make the best impression on potential buyers.

You might be wondering, what is the meaning of home stager?

Home staging, and in effect, the role of home stagers, is to literally “set the stage” of your home or property. Using design elements and aesthetic strategies aimed at increasing the general appeal of the space, home stagers work to make it as attractive as possible to the greatest number of potential buyers to increase interest and, ideally, assist in a quicker sale and higher sale price. 

You may ask, is it worth the money to stage a home?

One of the biggest lures of utilizing home staging is the promise that it will help to not only sell your home faster, but also at a higher price. It’s not surprising then, that so many sellers today elect to use home staging in the selling process of their home. With this in mind, read on for the key benefits of home staging. 

Home staging will ensure your home photographs well

The goal of home staging is to create a neutral aesthetic that has a universally-appealing style, in order to allow those viewing the property to imagine themselves and their families there, enjoying and living in the space. 

Marketing materials for your home, unless “virtually staged”, should highlight the property’s best features and make enough of a visual impression to entice buyers to come and see the property in person. These images should be professionally-taken in good light and high-resolution. This is typically the first impression potential buyers will have for your home, and it can either make or break the decision on whether a home-seeker is interested in viewing the property or not, not to mention whether or not it checks the preliminary boxes to satisfaction for realtors to suggest the listing to their clients. For this reason, staging your home before preparing any marketing materials or opening it up for viewing appointments is especially important. 

Home staging will ensure your home is truly decluttered

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In preparing your home for sale, a deep clean and decluttering of the property is hugely important. This critical step will allow for an open and clean space, which will then either be staged or left in as tidy and neutral a layout as possible. 

But truly decluttering your home is easier said than done. What may feel as “decluttered” to you may in fact still feel overly personalized to someone walking through the property for the first time. An objective second opinion, as home stagers will represent, will allow for fresh eyes to see what and where the house could benefit from additional tidying up and depersonalization. Their design strategy should ensure as neutral and open a feel as possible, and this will require minimal tchotchkes and personal tokens. 

Down to the details you might have overlooked, sellers will appreciate the creative avenues seasoned home stagers may suggest in using design and decor to visually “open up” smaller spaces, and even come equipped with methods of tackling things like concealing exposed wires and adjusting decor and furniture positioned in poor angles. 

As the seller, you may be too personally connected to your home to really notice or be bothered by some of these seemingly insignificant items, but to a potential buyer who is fresh to the space, these are the “little things” that may stand out more than you realize.

Home staging will help you to set a neutral base in your home’s aesthetic 

As mentioned, a neutral, airy and open base is generally the goal when preparing a home for sale. You may have a distinct style signature that you love, but in order to sell your home for the best price, you’ll need to disconnect from your own design preferences and examine the property through the eyes of a potential buyer. This can be extremely difficult for many homeowners to do, and this is where home stagers are able to really come in and supply some expert guidance and direction in taking your home from its current state to one that models a neutral base and more widely-appealing aesthetic. 

Home staging will allow you to incorporate luxury materials into your space

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It is possible to achieve a luxury aesthetic - minus the hefty price tag usually associated with luxury living. And this is where a great home stager can go the extra mile for clients by incorporating strategic elements and accessories into the space. 

While a neutral aesthetic is the aim for most home staging scenarios, there is an additional design strategy that many stagers use to incorporate or amplify the luxury quotient of a property. They do this by bringing in luxury materials in the form of decor accessories, furniture or even artwork which is crafted using materials which look luxurious. Leather, velvet, glass, mirrors, large-scale art, gold and silver metallics - elements like this reflect a certain level of luxurious living and will work to add that sensation to your space. 

A good home stager will know how to achieve that “luxury look” on the highest level with the least amount of expenditure or cost to the seller. Not to mention, many staging companies will use design elements and furniture that they themselves own or rent and have had success with on previous projects, meaning the use of such luxurious accents will not typically have any impact on your agreed-upon services contract with the home stagers. 

For more tips on preparing your home for sale, as well as community info, real estate news and more, check out our blog!

Royal LePage Connect Realty is an independently-owned Royal LePage franchise, with multiple  locations to serve you and your clients.