What is the number one thing every real estate agent, homeowner, or investor who is trying to sell their property should know?
They should know that when they have hundreds of potential buyers asking about the property, what those people really want is what that building can do for them.
Understanding this single fact is easily the most crucial step to making sense of buyers’ behavior. Why do buyers’ actions often surprise even the most-seasoned seller? It is because there is usually a gap between our assumptions of what a buyer needs and the reality of what they want. Buyer’s actions only make sense when viewed from the context of the needs they are trying to meet, rather than the stuff they are buying to meet those needs. The moment you stop looking at your products and start looking at buyers’ problems, selling becomes easier.
This change in perspective is so powerful it will transform your entire property marketing approach, says Property Hunters. Instead of focusing on the features of a home, ask questions about things the buyer wants the house to do for them. When you can make this subtle shift, you will go from selling products to marketing dreams and experiences.
This idea is the basis for one of the most effective strategies for selling real estate; home staging.
What is home staging?
Home staging is a marketing approach that sells houses from the perspective of helping buyers fulfill their dreams. It makes a buyer’s aspirations the focal point of the marketing effort. Home staging work takes an ordinary home and transforms it into the buyer’s idea of their dream home. The goal of doing this is to make the buyer fall in love with the property.
Home staging does this because it knows that most buying decisions emanate from an emotional point of view. Traditional marketing assumes that buyers make their decisions by a logical process. That is why it sells the physical qualities of a home. Home staging takes a different approach. Its method is to make the most powerful visual impact on the buyer.
Why you should adopt home staging for property marketing
An empty house is harder to sell. Most people find it hard to correctly estimate the dimensions of a room when it is empty. If the home has some furniture in it, people can use that as a reference to determine how small or big the space is. Additionally, people have difficulties knowing how to use a room that is devoid of furnishings or décor. Staging a home solves both of these problems for the buyer. Buyers can draw inspiration for what to do with the residence.
1. Achieve wider appeal
Sellers often think home staging means furnishing and decorating a home when trying to sell it. But sellers who furnish their home before putting it up for sale do it from the perspective of what appeals to them. That limits the home’s attractiveness to those buyers who share the seller’s preferences. Home stagers, on the other hand, stage the property to give it mass appeal. They depersonalize the space to make it easier for buyers to visualize themselves inside the home. That helps the home sell faster.
2. Home staging is perfect for digital marketing
Most buyers will have their first encounter with a home on the internet. Often they use the pictures and videos of a property as the basis for making their decision. That means if a home does not make the right first impression, it will lose out. Home stagers know how to deploy the tools of interior design to present the home as the buyer’s ideal home. They can convey the home in the right light using charming paint colors, alluring décor pieces, captivating lighting, and excellent furniture placement. It ensures that the buyer clicks into the advert to learn more.
3. Staging highlights the home’s key spaces
Staging a home gives the seller more control of the outcome when they show a buyer the property. That is because home staging takes the not-so-good aspects of the house and transforms them. It shows the buyer how they can use the various spaces in the home. If there are awkward or redundant spaces in the home (as is often the case), the home stager either disguises them or finds ways to use them. That keeps buyers from focusing on the negative aspects of the home.
4. Staging a home helps it sells faster
The sum effect of all these is that staging a property before putting it on the market helps it sell faster and for more money. Staged homes have fewer days on the market than un-staged homes. Buyers also make a substantial offer for a staged home because they become emotionally attached to their property and are motivated by their fear of missing out on the house.
