Home staging to speed up the sale of a property

Home staging: a wise investment

In a market where competition is cut-throat, it is not always easy to sell your home at the expected price. In general, most purchases are made on a whim. So, to trigger a quick sale and positively differentiate yourself from the competition, it is essential to present the property in its best light. This makes the property appealing and helps prospective buyers profile themselves: crucial criteria to boost a sale.

Interior designer Barbara Schwarz understands this concept well. In the 1970s, when her husband, an estate agent, was struggling to sell his properties, she came up with the idea of giving houses a makeover. A real staging of the houses that had great success. The concept of home staging emerged in the midst of the real estate crisis.

Alexandre Van Battel/ Wideshot Photography 2022

Home staging is a form of property marketing. By depersonalising and rethinking the decoration, by cleaning up the space or rearranging the rooms, the chances of selling a property increase. Visitors are more likely to see themselves in simple and neutral decoration.

It is not about big works, but small renovations at lower cost. The key is to never spend more than 5% of the selling price so that the process is always cost-effective.

The whole house can benefit from this improvement, as can the garden (garden staging), a real asset when selling a property. The exterior landscaping is then redesigned in a more thoughtful and aesthetic way.

Alexandre Van Battel/ Wideshot Photography 2022

Increasing the value of your home before it goes on sale

Convinced of the art of staging your home? Then it’s time for home staging!

Before starting a makeover, remember that it is possible to increase the value of your home without renovating every room. The principle of good home staging is to beautify a home at low cost.

The first step is to take care of the entrance. It is important to make a good impression from the beginning of the viewing. This is especially important because the first seconds are usually the first to fall in love. Its design should not be underestimated. The entrance hall should be simple, functional and welcoming: a space where the visitor can feel at ease.

Next, some valuable rules should be followed for each space:

• space the different rooms to facilitate circulation in each room and enlarge the space;
• depersonalise the rooms by removing your personal furniture and decorations and your souvenirs;
• harmonise the rooms with neutral and bright paint;
• make minor repairs (replace lamps, get rid of cables, damaged walls, etc;)
• decorate rooms with trendy items or give old furniture a makeover, taking inspiration from decorative Instagram accounts.

Hélène Guillon-Lempereur et Olivier Lempereur/Photo: Francis Amiand in VILLAS 109

Buyers attach particular importance to the kitchen and bathroom. So don’t neglect their makeover: choose durable and functional furniture, repaint cabinets, play with modern decoration, aesthetic pendant lights…

In the bedroom, choose soft colours that encourage relaxation and well-being, and elegant bedding.

Does the home have an exterior? Maintain it and enhance the atmosphere with coloured garden furniture to reveal its full potential.

Edra

Entrust home staging to a professional

Don’t feel like decorating? No problem, you can rely on a home staging professional. Given the popularity of this concept, the profession of home stager has become increasingly popular. Some professionals even work with real estate agents.

Home stagers offer two levels of services. The first level consists of an audit. The professionals make a detailed diagnosis of your home and detect both strengths and imperfections. They will give you tips on how to revamp your home yourself so that you can sell it in the best conditions.

The second level includes a complete service. After a full audit, the professionals will take care of designing the plans and drawings of your renovated home, choosing the materials and colours for each room, ordering and receiving the new goods, carrying out the work, furnishing and cleaning the home. You benefit from their taste in interior design and you take the burden of furnishing off your shoulders.

Paradoxical as it may seem, it is by investing a little money and time in staging your home that you will succeed in closing a sale quickly. So whether you choose to decorate your home yourself or hire professionals, you will win. Home staging is undoubtedly a more than profitable investment.