Presenting property through home staging

With the current Australian real estate market heading into lower interest rates than we have experienced in the last 18 months and greater hesitation to spend due to economic uncertainty, it makes sense to ensure your home is properly presented should you need to list your property in the current market.

With less people looking to purchase and concern from vendors that they will not get what they feel their property is worth, then home owners really should take advantage of the services of a home stager to maximise their home sale potential.

Home stagers will review the property and provide cost effective solutions on how to improve the overall look and feel of the property. And why is this so important? Well, the way a property presents will affect the level of engagement the property has with the buyer. A badly presented property will reduce the emotional connection a buyer needs to commit to the purchase. The old saying that first impressions are everything seems to be tailored for those selling their home so why risk your sale through not having a professional review your property prior to listing?

The cost of engaging a home stager to review your property will be far less than a drop on the asking price for the home and will give the property a new lease of life which both agents and buyers will appreciate.

It makes financial sense to invest a small amount of money in your home at sale time in order to present it to the widest posible buying audience in the best condition. With summer upon us it is imperative that a property be presented as well as possible as it is the best time to sell.

Shift by Design can assist with all facets of home staging from walk through property reports to hiring of furniture and accessories to style vacant property for sale.

Visit our website for more information at www.shiftbydesign.com.au/homestaging



Home staging provides this resource to home sellers in Hobart, Tasmania

It takes time to set the stage

I get a lot of people question me in relation to the time it takes to stage a vacant home for sale. Why does it take so long to complete this service? Why should I pay you to do this when I am renting your stock?

The answer to this is that getting it right takes time. Getting all the rental furniture stock into a property takes time and then in many instances you have to build it (beds, dining tables, occasional furniture). Building a bed can take two people 30-45 mins alone and if you are doing a 3 bedroom home, triple this time. Then there is the ironing of the linen. Again, consider how long it takes to iron a queen or king quilt cover, then times that by the number of rooms being installed.

How about artwork? Artwork is key to setting the mood in any property but you have to measure up, you have to find centre on the wall. Now how high does it need to be? What is the drop on the back? Is there a multiple set of artwork to be hung? What is the spacing?

Even when all this is done there is still the positioning of the furniture, the staging of the accessories, creating traffic paths to enhance the engagement of the buyer to maximise their exposure to the postive selling aspects of the property. All vital in the home staging of any property.

Then finally after all this is done and the property is looking a million dollars there is the tidy up, the packing up and the dropping off of excess items to the warehouse to be entered back into inventory.

The process is lengthy, but it is needed in order to get the final picture that creates that all important first impression, the "buy me" attribute that home buyers are looking for in their next property.

Shift by Design specialise in presenting vacant property for sale through furniture and accessory hire. We can transform your property and help buyers appreciate and understand the space and dimension in your property.

For more information on home staging, property presentation or home makeovers in Tasmania, visit our website at www.shiftbydesign.com.au.

Home staging - when is too much, too much?

Being a home stager of vacant and occupied properties means knowing when to either continue adding items to the property to ensure it looks lived in, without looking contrived or to cease accessorising for fear of over-doing it. Seriously, how many times have you seen photos in real estate guides (printed or online) with wine glasses propped up on the corner of the bed on a silver serving tray? Does anyone actually do that in reality as part of their everyday life? I don't think so.

One of the things a professional home stager must identify in their work is when enough is enough. Our main goal in presenting property to home buyers is to ensure they see the property, home or house OVER the contents. We aim to highlight the benefits of the property, the key selling areas of the home that the buyer will recall and have emotional involvement with in order to generate the sale of a home.

A home stager must identify what will suit the property and determine what the audience viewing that particular home will interest them through furnishings, artwork and accessories. But it is not just the items that are put into the home that assists it to sell, it is the way that they are placed to provide clear definition of rooms, traffic zones and scale that really count.

After all, there is no point having a magnificent view over a city or coast line when large sofas or plants are pushed hard up against the glass restricting visual access. This limits the property's selling potential and affects the way the buyer engages with the property.

The joy about working with Australian (and in particular, Tasmanian) properties in preparing them for sale is that generally the less is more mantra can be clearly adhered to. Allowing the property to shine in natural light or making the most of the panaramic views should be a priority.

These are the priciples that Tasmanian home staging and property presentation company Shift by Design follow. We aim to showcase properties for sale in the best possible light, without the contents being overwhelming or not reflecting the lifestyle the property will present its new owners. We simplify, not crowd your property to make it feel like a home.

If you need assistance preparing your property for sale or need rental furniture for your vacant property for sale visit the Shift by Design website for more details. Shift by Design can create a space potential home owners want to be in your home.

Stage to sell your property now!

With winter upon us and interest rates up, now is the time to get the jump on the real estate market and have your property presented for sale.

Having your home, rental property or display home styled will give you a marketing edge over the competion by creating a space buyers want to be in and own.

A well presented home is more likely to sell faster and for more than a property that is not presented. It also attracts more buyers to inspections and generally creates a lot more interest.

If you are considering selling your home in Tasmania (or your home is on the market and not attracting attention), why not discuss your options with Shift by Design - the property presenters.

Visit our website at http://www.shiftbydesign.com.au/ for more information.

How much furniture is too much?

This is the age old question for the home stager or property stylist. How much furniture and how many accessories will the property take before these items become the feature and not the house?

When furnishing a property for sale, it is important to know just how much to put in the house so that the furniture does not become the prominent feature in the home.

Staging a home means putting selected pieces in that compliment the home and showcase the features of the property in the best possible light, after all, this is what the buyers are purchasing. Over dressing a property takes the attention away from the home and focusses the buyer on how the property is styled which is not the aim.

Texture, tone, pattern and colour all add to the experience for the buyer when inspecting a home and assists create the emotional link with the buyer so creating a welcoming space is vitally important.

At Shift by Design, we create spaces that are defined and complimentary to to the property without being over the top. If you need assistance styling your property for sale or furnishing a vacant property, call Shift by Design - the property presenters.

Visit the Shift by Design website at http://www.shiftbydesign.com.au/

Images really do say a thousand words

We are all largely visual people. We process information based on what we see and make instant decisions on the basis of these images.

Preparing a house ready for sale is no different. The process of staging a home for sale means ensuring all the elements are in place (and that nothing is out of place!) and that the mental picture that potential buyers take away with them is something that emotionally convinces them to purchase your property...that is of course based on the fact you get people to the property.

Well, what stops people from inspecting a property? One thing that is vital in the marketing of your property for sale is the way your home is presented to the buying public. By this I mean how it is visually presented to those looking for property online or in the local real estate guide. The image of your property, whether it be an internal shot or an external shot, needs to be clear, an accurate representation of the property and focussed on a key selling proposition for the property. If the property has a view, incorporate some of the room that looks out onto the view in the photo. If the room has little natural light, ensure the blinds are all the way back or up. Buyers are sceptical of some photos that do not accurately show the property, especially when they inspect the property and cannot see what has been presented to them in the marketing.
The last thing a buyer wants is to have to climb a ten rung ladder like the photographer did to get that view of the river!

A lot of agents now engage professional photographers and this is good as the images are clean, crisp and generally focus on an interesting feature of the property. However if your agent is happy to take shots of your kitchen when the dishes are piled high (don't laugh, it happens!) and use these in your marketing campaign, don't be surprised if there are no enquiries (you should also question your agent if they are prepared to print these images or post them online).

A picture does say a thousand words, and it is the hook that draws buyers into your property when you are selling.

All projects completed by Shift by Design have high quality photos taken the minute the project is complete. It is the fresh approach that allows us to capture the moment and ensure that the images you use in your marketing reflect the property accurately.

For more information on property presentation tools to assist you sell your home, visit the Shift by Design website at http://www.shiftbydesign.com.au/.

Builders - do you stage your spec or display home??

Whether you are a builder, project manager or owner builder it makes sense to ensure you make your property as attractive as possible to perspective buyers when the time comes to list the property for sale.

You put time and effort into building the property (or even a series of properties in the one location) and so it adds up that if you are to get the best price for the property, you need to ensure it presents as well as possible.

With home buyers being more selective about the types of property they would consider buying to turn into their new home, builders need to look beyond getting the property to lock up and selling stage. They need to consider the emotions of the people inspecting the home when it is on the market, their needs and lifestyle aspirations and how they will function in the property once they commit to buying.

Shift by Design gives builders that edge through transforming your building into a home. Shift by Design are specialists in creating a lived in and warm feel to vacant properties in Tasmania. We use quality furnishings to style the property in the mood it was intended so that buyers can see how they would live and use their furniture in the property.

We can assist builders get the most value out of their marketing efforts by providing a display home instead of merely a vacant shell of a building, creating emotion and mood in the property for inspection. This is of particular benefit if you have built a series of villas or apartments on the one parcel of land. Having one of these properties styled for sale helps people visualise what the other properties could look like.

Shift by Design has flexible rental terms on everything from bedroom and loungeroom furniture through to rugs, linen, lamps and prop TVs! We can turn your property into someone's dream.

We can even provide paint colour recommendations for interiors and exteriors, provide assistance with the selction of tiles, benchtops, carpet colouring and textures and more should you need the help.

For more information on Shift by Design visit our website at http://www.shiftbydesign.com.au/

Should I stage the whole house or just key rooms?

When home staging is used effectively to present a property, you can certainly increase your selling potential in relation to time and money.

But should your investment in home staging be the whole house or just key rooms? Well this largely depends on whether the property is currently being lived in or is vacant.

A lived in property for sale needs to maintain the look and feel of the home and therefore each and everyroom needs to be furnished and styled appropriately. The home needs to showcase the application for each and everyone of the rooms so that the buyer can see the room definition and use.

While the same can be said for a vacant home to be staged, buyers are savvy enough to realise when a home is lived in and when it has rental furniture in it (empty cupboards are a dead giveaway!). In a vacant property it is more important to cover the key rooms such as living spaces, bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchen. These rooms have the highest emotional attachment and therefore should the 'hero' rooms to assist in selling your home.

Either property type, a well presented property will always be seen more favourably by buyers who prefer to purchase and move into a property that requires less work.

Shift by Design specialise in the preparation of both lived in and vacant properties for sale. Our property presentation services cover the inside and outside and provide creative solutions to attracting the widest possible audience to your property.

Visit our website at http://www.shiftbydesign.com.au/ for more information and contact details.

Can you stage a property yourself?

The answer to this question is of course you can. A property can be tidied and reviewed by the property owner and even your agent in order to be ready for sale.

But in doing this, are you effectively covering the whole property? Are you seeing the property from a buyer perspective? Will the fact that you have lived in the property for some time blind you from seeing the obvious issues?

Preparing and staging a home is not as simple as people first expect. There are plenty of traps to fall into and there is often a great deal of time that needs to be dedicated to the process.

Cleaning, gardening, painting and even furniture all need to be reviewed and where appropriate, the right suppliers bought in to correct if sellers are short on time.

A professional home stager will provide all these resources and the skills to complete the work in the minimal amount of time and cost. This is vitally important when you consider how short a period of time you have from the moment you decide to sell a property to when it is actually on the market. Do you have the free time in your busy lifestyle to stage and prepare your home in one to two weeks?

Investing in home staging will have a positive effect on you, your agent and how the buyer perceives your property and should always be considered prior to listing, and more importantly, prior to considering a price drop on your property.

Shift by Design offer home sellers everything they need to prepare their home for sale. For more information on Shift by Design's services visit our site at www.shiftbydesign.com.au