The pandemic has imposed plenty of economic challenges on the country, but Americans have shown surprising resilience in one facet. According to experts, there has been a boom in residential real estate rates. Americans have been setting aside money during the pandemic to become homeowners. This has led to a homeownership rate of 65.8 percent, the highest in the country since 2015.
If you want to build up you finances, whether to invest in a mutual fund or to pay off college debt, you may want to sell your home in this upswing. If you don’t want to risk your property staying on the market for months, you might find it prudent to partner with people who stage houses.
But what do home staging jobs entail? Why do people stage houses? Who pays for staging a house? Learn the answers to these important questions today.
What Does Staging a House Mean?
A top real estate agent may tell you that you need some staging when you are selling your home, but what does that really mean? When people talk about staging houses, they refer to the practice of setting and sprucing up residential spaces to enhance their appeal to potential buyers. This involves a lot of window dressing.
Home staging jobs involves cosmetically improving the appearance and ambience of your home. It’s not a remodel or a renovation, which involves physically altering or enhancing the structure. Thinks of staging houses like applying cologne, putting on makeup and wearing new clothes. The house remains the same, but the window dressing makes it more likely someone will take an interest.
If you’re flipping a house, your home stager may rearrange your living room furniture to open up the floor a little bit. They may change your curtains to let in more light. They may also put down new carpets, rent different furniture and even simulate cooking in your kitchen.
All these measures are designed to help boost your home’s attractiveness and get it out of the market as quickly as possible.
Why Do People Stage Houses?
You may be wondering why some people feel like they have to stage houses when they put their property on the market. The truth is not everyone has to window dress their properties. Some homes will sell quickly despite their appearances.
However, if you are house poor and the property you want to sell isn’t up to the usual standards, you may need a leg up.
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Improve Appeal
The primary function of a home staging job is to make your house as attractive as possible to buyers. According to real estate agents, as many as 40 percent of clients said that the window dressing on a property affected the way they view a home. Positive appeal can make it more likely that your home is snapped up quickly.
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Attract Buyers
Some homes languish on the market for months. This can seriously affect the price of property as houses that sit unbought can develop a reputation as being unattractive. Staging houses can help your property avoid this. You can be surprised how many people will turn up if you just dust the furniture, put out the right fruit bowl and spray the best scents.
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Increase Price
The positive ambience and appeal created by home staging jobs can also have a financial impact on your residential property. All homebuyers will present a lower price for their first offer, but the right window dressing can help persuade a buyer to increase this initial proposal. Your home can have its price range increase between one to five percent thanks to staging.
Who Pays for Staging a House?
Your real estate agent may be the one to suggest that you stage a house but inevitably the price of doing so falls on you. If you are putting your home in the market, you will be the one who pays for staging your house.
The cost of such a process depends wildly between companies and homes in question.
The average cost of staging houses is $400, but that price can change. If your house is new, reasonably well-kept and sturdy, a home staging company may not need to do much to increase buyer appeal. However, older homes that are in disrepair or no longer appealing to current buyers may need a more in-depth job. For example, a $1,000 home staging job may cover rental furniture to increase attractiveness, a deep cleaning home service and even fresh food for the buyers and to perfume the place. If you are willing to shoulder such costs to eke out as many dollars as you can from your house, you should do so.
Staging houses is one of the best tools in your arsenal if you want to secure a property sale. Thanks to new furniture, a few lemons and some interior decorating, you can expect your home to not only get sold quickly, but also fetch a better price.
