You never get a second chance to make a first impression. This rule certainly applies to real estate marketing as well. Of course, it is no secret that nearly all real estate searches begin online. Therefore, professional photos are not a negotiable item when it comes to listing a property for sale. In fact, where allowable, we also recommend drone photography to provide aerial shots of the property and the surrounding area. These aerial photos will certainly give prospective buyers a better idea of the lot’s features, space, and neighboring properties. In addition to professional photos to showcase a property, a thorough and well written property description using attention grabbing words is also very important when marketing a property. Lastly, staging a home is a great strategy to provide a vision of what the property could look like to prospective buyers.
The art of staging a home
Staging a home with either some or all of the homeowner’s furnishings can be a great strategy when showcasing a home. Of course, staging a home will be contingent on the furnishings, artwork, and amount of clutter in the home. In some cases, the furnishings may be outdated. If this is the case, but you still want to stage the home, removing these items and placing them in a storage unit may be the best option. In these cases, it is likely that more modern furnishings will need to be rented to properly stage the home. Of course, these drastic measures will come with a price and therefore the seller’s budget will largely dictate what can and can not be done.
In some instances the home being sold is vacant and unfurnished. The benefit of this is that it allows prospective buyers to view the space with no clutter while also getting an opportunity to realize the amount of space in the home. As far as staging goes, these homes provide a blank canvas for creativity. When it comes to staging a vacant and unfurnished home, virtual staging may provide you with the best of both worlds. By having professional photos taken of the vacant home, you can virtually stage any room of the home with little effort. When sharing these images in a listing, it is strongly recommended that you include both photos of the vacant home along with virtually staged photos. To take it a step further, we also recommend labeling virtually staged photos as such. The benefit of including both unfurnished and virtually staged photos in your listing is that it can provide a complete vision of the home to prospective buyers.
Summary
Staging and virtual staging can be excellent tactics to implement when listing your home for sale. Of course, it is always important to ensure that you are not misrepresenting the property or misleading the public with any marketing efforts. To be safe, feel free to review the National Association of REALTORS®’ (NAR) 2023 Code of Ethics & Standards of Practice, Article 12 and the Real Estate Staging Association (RESA) Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct for more information.
According to NAR’s 2021 Profile of Home Staging, 47% of buyer’s agents cited that home staging had an effect on buyers’ views of a home, and 82% said that staging a home made it easier for a buyer to visualize the property as a future home. From a seller’s perspective, nearly a quarter of listing agents reported an increase of 1% to 5% of the dollar value offered by buyers, in comparison to similar homes without staging.
Are you thinking about selling your home in South Florida? We can help! Contact Natasha at Live South Florida Realty, Inc. today for a free consultation. Be sure to download the free Florida Home Search app for your smartphone or tablet as well.
