News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Home-selling is a competitive sport. Just as on the court or in the field, if you take some time and put a little extra work in to prepare, you can give yourself a competitive edge.
"Staging" your home can make a substantial difference in time on the market and your final selling price.
"It helps people who are interested in buying homes to visualize themselves in your home," Ali Mayea of Ponderosa Properties, explained.
Jodi Satko, of Keller Williams Realty Oregon Lifestyle Property Group, says, "Staging a home is going to create more value for a home. It's going to make a home more inviting to potential buyers."
Successful staging does not require huge amounts of effort or a big cash outlay. The median cost for staging is $675, Mayea reports. And good staging can increase home value by an estimated five percent.
"I have found that every dollar that might be spent on staging is value-added," Satko said.
Sellers often overestimate what is required to get their home ready for the market.
"They think they need to do more than they really do," Mayea says.
Expensive kitchen and bathroom remodels are not a good play. You are unlikely to recover the full cost, and there's every chance that your remodel won't be exactly what the buyer wants anyway.
"A lot of it is just getting rid of things ... so you can walk through the home and it flows," Mayea said.
Satko concurs. And that means sellers need to be objective about how their home looks to potential buyers. Changing up the look of your home is not a criticism of your taste or your style. It's not personal; it's just business.
"Sellers should keep an open mind when selling their property to present it well on the market," She said. "It's definitely to their benefit and they have to look at it that way."
Clean and organize the garage neatly, too.
"If you can't walk easily through the house or the garage, you need to get a storage facility or sell (some stuff)," Mayea says.
Of course you'll want to fix noticeable things, like replacing missing trim or a ripped screen. Replacing blinds can have a beneficial effect.
But cleanliness may trump repairs. A clean house is an attractive house - and clean kitchens and bathrooms are most important of all. Be thorough - it's worth it.
"Each time you clean I think it's worth $1,000," Mayea says.
A nice coat of paint can do a lot. Satko encourage muted, neutral colors.
"Curbside (appeal) is most important," Mayea notes.
Again, it doesn't require all-new landscaping; just get things trimmed up nicely, remove dead vegetation and eliminate weeds. Your house should stand out on your block.
"If you can make it prettier than your neighbors' that should be the goal," Mayea says.
Staging is not just for the potential buyer who actually visits your home. Photographs on your Realtor's website are increasingly important to bring buyers your way. The first impression of your home nowadays will often come from what they see on their tablet or smart phone.
Mayea cautions that, while it's great to make a house look its best in online photographs, it's a mistake to exaggerate or fake anything. Some photographs exaggerate a mountain view, for instance. That just creates disappointment when a buyer visits the home and discovers that that mountain view isn't quite that spectacular after all.
"I will not size up the mountains!" Mayea says
Staging is a relatively low-cost, effective means of making a quick sale at the price you want. It's also a good way to get a head start on the next phase of your journey.
"It helps them get ready to move, too," Satko notes. "It's kind of a psychological cleansing."
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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