Mark Slade - MoreMoney

CHAPTER 2

HOWMUCH MORE CAN STAGING GET YOU?

Nowyou knowwhat home stagingmeans, and have an idea of what it looks like and its place in home-

selling. However, you might be still skeptical about the worth of the time, effort, and money. After all, does “staging” a for-sale house really make a difference to buyers? Don’t they see past the toys on the living roomfloor and see their own children’s toys there? Domost people care that the house looks “lived in” at a showing? After all, they know it will be emptied before theymove in, or at least understand that real people live there and that they’re not shopping for a museum. Won’t people see past a collection of butterfly magnets on the fridge and just see the fridge that comes with the house? For better or worse, the answer to these questions is a resounding “No!” Recent data on home staging shows that 9 out of 10 people can’t see past what’s in front of them to envision something different, whether it’s a collection of fishing trophies in the living room or a completely empty space. People have a hard time separating what’s there from what they’ll bring when they move in. Frankly, home shoppers likely don’t even want to see what it’ll look like with their furniture in it. What your potential buyers really want is to know that their new home can be made to look like the beautiful set pieces one can see on HGTV. Perhaps it’s not fair, but it’s the reality of the world we live in.

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