People don’t buy houses; they buy homes. They don’t care as much about the features of a property as they care about how those features will benefit them. When people buy anything, how they feel about it is the essential factor.
Buying decisions are 80% emotional and 20% logical, even for big items, like a home.
Buyers are usually more concerned about their image and other people’s opinion than anything else explains SCUDO Real Estate & PM. It is after these emotional aspects of purchase have been satisfied that they start to look for logical reasons to justify the decision.
But many homeowners who are in the process of selling their properties do not realize this.
They try to sell potential buyers on the physical aspects of a building; its dimensions, configuration, and condition.
But those are things would-be buyers take for granted. They hold no emotional appeal for the buyer and cannot move them to a buying decision.
What makes people buy is when an item connects with them on an emotional level. The object conveys a feeling of success, power, satisfaction, and desire. Or it evokes the “wow” factor. The difference between a home that creates a “wow’ effect and one that doesn’t is how they are presented.
The difference is not price or location, but often whether the home has been professionally staged or not. Professional staging is a home-marketing strategy built on two things. It takes the emotional nature of all purchases into full account.
It appreciates the reality of how real estate is bought and sold today. Many homeowners don’t realize that the real estate marketing landscape has changed and old methods are no longer useful. Do you know how houses are sold today?
How people buy houses today
Maybe, like most owners, you believe your home can sell itself. You think if you could get potential buyers to visit the property, its features, and condition would convince them. It is probably true, except for one thing. How will you meet potential buyers and persuade them to visit your home?
Most buyers today will first encounter your home on an online platform where you will not be present to explain its best features. Additionally, your home will be one of a thousand other properties calling for buyers’ attention. How will your property stand out?
What is the unique factor about your home that will make internet users stop scrolling and click on the image of the property? Grabbing eyeballs and making the best first impression fast is how real estate is sold today.
It is after people have been won over in the digital space that you can expect them to visit the physical property.
Marketing is about creating favorable perceptions in the minds of buyers. It is what professional stagers do when they prepare a home. Professional stagers can take a property and make it into everything buyers need it to be.
How professional stagers can help you sell your house
They make a house web-ready: Professional stagers know how to optimize the appearance of a home for presentation on digital media.
They understand how to utilize layout, furniture, décor, colors, and lighting to create an overall great impression. Well-staged home photographs are better than others and have a higher shareability factor on the internet.
The owners of such properties get a lot of free marketing. And the social proof that comes with that makes the home even more appealing. If buyers see and like your home online, they are more likely to request a walkthrough.
They highlight a property’s strengths: Every house has its best and worst features. Professional stagers know how to emphasize strengths and diminish flaws. Using color, lighting, furniture, and décor, they show potential buyers the possibilities that a home offers.
They can make a small space feel bigger and an awkwardly-shaped room attractive. Even when the flaws are visible, they make the home’s best features outshine them to the point where buyers are willing to ignore those faults.
Stagers sell experiences: They know how to connect a space to buyers’ emotions; they help the buyer envision themselves living in the house. When most owners prepare their homes for sale, they limit themselves to what they like and what makes them comfortable.
But professional stagers design a home to appeal to a broad spectrum of potential buyers. They do not restrict the design to what appeals to a section of the market. And because the home has widespread appeal, it sells faster.
Professional stagers have extensive knowledge and networks: They know the latest design trends that are most likely to catch buyers’ attention. They can take a decades-old house and transform it into a contemporary masterpiece.
They are connected to a network of professionals who can facilitate the renovation, marketing, and eventual sale of the property.
Staged homes sell faster and for more: Because a staged home is more attractive, it gets more exposure on the internet. This increases the chances of it being found by the eventual buyer.
Additionally, buyers will pay more for a staged home, because they become attached to it, even before agreeing on a price with the seller.
