Look Beyond Staging: Professionally staged homes are designed to impact your emotions and your senses. If done well, they tell a story of how you will work, play and entertain in this home – You’ll begin to imagine how well you could live if you owned this home. Staging can seduce you and make you want to put your money down and sign on the dotted line.
Fresh-baked cookies or freshly-brewed coffee are inviting aromas that make you want to linger.
The just-delivered look of spotless new furnishings and accessories can show you how to accent this home to perfection. Soft music invites you to relax, take your time, and make yourself at home. Clean uncluttered countertops, beds made with fluffy pillows, and dining rooms replete with elegant place settings show you life at its best – serene and organized. Of course you want to live this way. But before you fall in love, remind yourself that most of the things you’re responding to are not included in the purchase price of the home. You’re buying the structure, not the décor.
Staging presents the interior and exterior of a home in a way that depersonalizes it from the seller. It doesn’t mean the seller lived with the dining table set for a party every day. The idea is to say, “Welcome to your new home”, not “Buy my home”. That can include rearranging furniture, moving accessories to a new location or starting over with a whole new look – fresh paint and updated “borrowed” furnishings.
Your goal is to buy the best home you can possibly afford that meets your needs. Look carefully at things that are fixed – systems, fixtures, and floorplans. Think about how you want to live. No home is perfect but does this home answer most of your needs? Ask yourself the following:
- Does it flow well and could you get groceries to the kitchen quickly and easily?
- Can more than one person cook or assist with meal preparation?
- Do household members have a nice balance of privacy and places to gather?
- Do you have enough storage and are the rooms large enough for their purpose?
- Is there a place for your home office, art studio, or woodshop?
- Does the house need updating to better meet your needs?
- Which systems need replacing or will need replacing soon, such as the roof, AC or a large appliance? Would they be reasonable or affordable, given the purchase price?
It’s nice to see any home finished to look its best. You can get great ideas as you walk through a staged home. Just remember to give the systems, appliances, floorplan and condition the attention they deserve.
