Staging Can Make Magic

Something magical happens when

 

you fill an empty house with beautiful furnishings: it transforms into a home. Home staging makes subtle suggestions about how a house can come to live without limiting the buyer’s imagination.

This fundamental concept from Copeland + Co. could not be more true than in the recent sale of 535 NE Laurelhurst Pl. in Portland, Oregon. 

 

The National Association of REALTORS® agrees the effectiveness of home staging cannot be understated when selling a home. Here are the statistics they have gathered on the topic:

 

  • 81% of buyers say staging makes it easier to visualize the property as a future home
  • 46% of buyers are more willing to walk through a home viewed online
  • 45% greater impact on the value of the home when decorated to the buyers’ tastes

Additionally, 96% of real estate agents say that staging has an effect on their buyer clients’ perception of the home.

 

While staging is just one component in the full suite of marketing services our team provides or selling clients, it is arguably one of the most important. Especially during a time of somewhat restricted access to homes when buyers are exhausting digital tours and photo galleries of houses they are interested in before scheduling an appointment to see it. It’s critical that the home look it’s best in photos.

Before staging, some key rooms were repainted as well. Great paint colors set the stage for great staging and incredible photos. Prior to staging, our team worked with Copeland + Co to update a few of the main rooms of the house with rich and timeless color updates.

Here are some tantalizing before and after photos of this incredible and historic century home in the heart of Laurelhurst.

 

 

Living and Dining Rooms Before

Living and Dining Rooms With Fresh Paint

Final Staging

The investment of professional staging and fresh paint when preparing to list your home is well worth it. The sellers on this home received multiple offers within the first weekend on the market and ended up closing for well more than it was listed for.

Our stance is that the effort given to preparing the home for the market paid off. We also advise you to hire the right staging partner, like Copeland + Co to help you execute the right vision for the target market. We’re so glad to be In Good Company with them!

-Virginia Barden

Licensed Real Estate Broker with Living Room Realty

Market Ready Your Home – Alameda

How to Market Ready Your Home

There are 4 factors that control the sale of your home:

Location, Price, Marketing, and Condition

As a seller, you have the most control and effect over the condition of your home. Condition is one of the top factors in the marketability and sale of your home. Part of the work I do as a real estate agent is to help you prepare your home for the market by providing an extensive “Market Ready Your Home” guide. This guide helps transition your mindset from “This is my home” to “This is a product for sale.” It takes you through each area of your home and provides a checklist on what to do to get your home ready to be marketed, listed, and sold.

One part of this guide covers your home’s functional condition and things that will be addressed during disclosures and inspections. Are there things that need to be fixed? This is not the pretty fun part.

On the flip side, the majority of the guide part talks about your home’s aesthetic condition.  This is the fun part where we basically get to play dress up with your house! What can we do to make the home most appealing to today’s buyers?

Once we factor in costs, time, and ability (who is going to do what), we prioritize both functional fixes and aesthetic updates to create a Market Ready checklist and timeline specific to your home!

Below is the Market Ready checklist from my latest Alameda listing:

-paint interior and exterior

-clean roof and gutters

-landscape and clear out flower beds

-trim hedges below windows to allow light in

-remove storm windows and get windows professionally washed

-install new mirrors and bathroom lights

-install new porch light

-update canned lights in kitchen

-update basement lights

 

Having wonderful clients that executed their entire checklist helped! Here are the before and afters:

As you can see, it is very important to hire a real estate agent who can help you throughout the entire listing process by providing guidance and resources needed from start to finish and beyond. If you would like a free copy of my “Market Ready Your Home” guide, please email me at carrie@livingroomre.com!