We get many inquires about whether or not to stage a vacant home.  A vacant, over any other listing, is usually the most important to stage.  A lot of agents and sellers will say to me “I’ll leave it vacant because most homeowners can visualize what it will look like furnished”.  There is no statement that can be further from the truth!  The reality is that most potential buyers can’t envision what an empty space will look like furnished.

Accumulating ‘stuff’ is a fact of life. A lot of downtown condos have small living spaces and if we can’t show a potential buyer their ‘stuff’ will fit, they’ll move onto the next property. Remember, an empty room actually appears smaller than it actually is. Placing appropriate sized furniture & accessories helps potential buyers envision their life in that home. In larger spaces sometimes prospective buyers are at a loss as to how to best lay the space out. Approximately 80% of new home buyers put their furniture in the exact same place they saw it when they first viewed the home. All the more reason to give them a template to work from!

Think about it. Today’s day and age is about immediate gratification. We punch in a website and poof!, it’s displayed in front of us. With the flick of our thumb our TV can display 4 different visual images and hundreds of channels to choose from. Why then, if people today depend so much on technology to do the work for them, would we assume when they buy a house that their expectations aren’t the same? New buyers really want someone else to do the work for them, and in 15 seconds when they walk through the door of a property their decision is quickly and easily made for them.

Purchasing a home is not only a financial based decision. It is primarily an emotional decision. A vacant home can often feel cold and empty. The impression you want to have is that the space is warm and inviting. We want the buyer to say ‘I’m not sure what it was about that place but I knew immediately it was THE ONE!’. Staging will help you achieve this goal.

Take a look at the before and afters in our featured property. What a difference Staging makes!