Home staging of the Clayton's variety

I recently submitted a post tin another forum in relation to the development of the home staging sub-industry of virtual staging.

Virtual staging is the Clayton's Home Staging, the home staging when you don't stage a home. It allows a home owner to have very specific photos taken of their home and then they can select from a range of furnishings and accessories which are then stylishly and digitally applied to the shots to use in marketing.

Don't get me wrong, I love what technology can offer us to make projects faster, more efficient and create better results for my clients. I think this technology is amazing and offers a great alternative to the client who may think that staging their vacant home this way is quick, simple and affordable.

Unfortunately though, this service is actually a disservice to home buyers.

Why? Well I am glad you asked (even if you didn't!).

Home buying is an emotional practice, we all know that. So you can imagine how a buyer FEELS when they look online and see the home of their dreams, gleaming with wondering fittings and furniture and ring the listing agent for an inspection. They turn up excited to see this warm glowing home that could be their next place of residence (that until now has been served up to them in hi-res photographic mastery) only to open the door to find a vacant, echoing and empty property.

What a kick in the ribs. There is nothing worse that creating an impression in a consumer's mind only to have it completely dashed in reality. That is a quick way to lose a sale and disappoint a prospective buyer.

The fact of the matter is a staged property provides the warmth that a buyer looks for. Even a badly laid out room is better than an empty one for the buyer to determine the scale and space in the home.

So while technology is a wonderful thing, it cannot replace some things that we humans need and want. Physically staging a property is the only true way to engage a buyer both in marketing and while inspecting the home.

Shift by Design are professional home stagers based in Hobart, Tasmania. We rent and hire furniture specifically to present property for sale.

Home stagers are personally removed from the sale

I have only realised in the last few days that my own website was not looking as polished as it once was. It's a solid site that ranks well for my keywords but it wasn't until someone independent from my business recently reviewed the site and gave me constructive criticism that I realised what elements I was missing and the difference it made to users of my site.

While I am a home stager I also run a business called Shift Branding International which assists small business with search engine optimisation and usability on websites and it's not until you sometimes take a step back that you can see the bigger picture and what you are potentially missing out on.

It made me think that this is also reflected in selling a house. While you as the owner of the house are perfectly able to clean up and prepare a home for sale you will never see it the way a buyer does. Why? Because you have your owner blinkers on and you are too close to the home.

Getting a professional home stager or property stylist in to review your home does not suggest that your home is badly maintained and they are not out to criticise the style of your home or the way you live. A good home stager is looking for opportunities that you may not have seen to add more value to your home with the buyer.

Don't be frightened about having someone independent come through your home when you are thinking about selling. The property presenter is on your side and will help you achieve more in your sale, not pick faults with your furnishings.

So take that step back, take a deep breath and invite a home stager into your property if you are considering selling.

PS The Shift by Design website comments made to me recently where taken on board and implemented. Much like a staged home, I hope buyers now see extra value in the steps I have taken.

Is home staging taking off in Australia?

The home staging industry is not a new one by any means, the concept has been alive and well in the United States and the United Kingdom for sometime where it is recognised as an important element in selling a home or property.

It is also heavily supported in these countries through the incredible hype that surrounds the many reality home maker shows dedicated to turning an undesirable property into something that buyers pay a premium for.

The home staging industry in Australia is getting more and more traction with home sellers through the likes of similar shows such as The Block and HomeMADE but we still don't seem to have the interest or understanding that home owners in the States or UK do.

It still seems that home sellers are reluctant to INVEST in the sale of their property when it could net them a better selling price and less time on the market. Home owners generally don't seem to recognise that their property should be reviewed from an independent buyer's perspective to identify many of the basic issues a property has at sale time that may cause a buyer to decide against purchasing.

A small investment in a home staging expert will have a dramatic affect on the way a buyer sees a property for sale. The buyer suddenly sees the positive aspects of the property and not the negatives. The buyer sees space, identifies rooms for their purpose and more importantly, starts to imagine themselves living in the property. Emotion is a key buying decision and if your property engages emotionally with the buyer, isn't that worth a small investment in property presentation or home staging?

Home staging is taking off in Australia, yes, but with more understanding of the benefits and with more positive results in relation to sales it will grow and develop even faster.

Shift by Design are Tasmania's leading home staging experts and can provide a comprehensive review of your property to help make as attractive to the widest buying audience. We can assist owner occupied homes or provide a furniture hire and styling service to those with vacant property.

Vacant home staging becomes more affordable

Tasmanian home staging professionals, Shift by Design, recently introduced a new furniture hire package to assist Tasmanian's sell their home faster and for more.

Since the inception of the company in 2006, Shift by Design has constantly looked at the way its pricing is set to offer the most competitive product around. Now, Shift by Design introduce their 4 week furniture rental and property styling package to help those on a budget but recognise the importance of investing in their home at sale time.

Typically, most clients prefer an 8 week rental to allow for photos of the property, open homes, and time to get into local real estate guides and online.

However some clients really want to have their vacant home stylishly presented for sale for a shorter period in the hope it will sell within 4 weeks knowing that if it doesn't, they can extend the contract on a monthly basis.

This means a lower initial investment than a two month contract and gives the vendor greater flexibility in that they can continue to hire the furniture after the initial contract has expired.

For more information on the new pricing, contact adam@shiftbydesign.com.au for more information and a fact sheet on this package.

Home staging is not about knocking down walls

The concept of home staging has been around for some time now. The concept started in the US and has over time spread to other corners of the world including Australia (and indeed Tasmania). While the concept is still largely in its infancy in Australia, it is an incredibly vital link in the chain of selling property.

In Australia, many home themed reality TV shows depict transformation of property in a day with a cast of what seems like thousands working on knocking out walls, repainting, gardening and generally rebuilding the property.

Home staging is not like that in reality. You cannot truly expect a client to spend massive sums of money on their property prior to sale? They are preparing to sell the home and move on so there is no value is massive renovations and massive spends that the seller is not going to be able to enjoy.

A professional home stager knows this. Instead of spending money on useless and irrelevant areas of the property, a good home stager manages to utilise largely what is already in the home, just better.

But how does a home seller find out what needs to be done in the property? Well engaging a home staging expert is the first step. A home stager will identify opportunities within the property to improve or exhibit to the buying public.

Home staging is not about covering up problems within the property, it is about showcasing the positive elements of the property so that buyers are lead to the amazing view, see the fact that there are three large and spacious bedrooms, notice the built ins and realise that their large sofa will fit in the lounge room if they were to buy the property.

Home staging is about creating warmth, emotion, connection and desire. And with desire comes action - buying the property.

If you are selling a home, you should engage a home stager, it's that simple. A small investment in contracting a home staging expert to come to your property could net you a faster sale or a better sale price. Now wouldn't that be nice?

Shift by Design home staging offer consulting services and comprehensive reviews of properties as well as furniture and accessory rental for vacant property in Tasmania, Australia.

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Home staging no matter what the asking price!

Property presentation or home staging is quite often seen as a luxury purchase when selling your home which has always bamboozled me. Why would you consider something that has a high likelihood of generating you additional income at sale time a purchase when clearly it is an investment??

An interesting thing happened to me recently and it flows on from my last post about lower priced property benefiting from home staging. The property we worked on had been vacant for some time, had some average offers and did not show particularly well.

Given the Shift by Design treatment the listing real estate agent was shocked (pleasantly) with the results and advised he was pretty much living at the property after it was relaunched on the market due to the amount of interest in inspecting the property.

It suddenly had three offers on it, one of them was more than $5000 over the modest asking price of $150,000. Everyone walks away happy.

So if you think home staging is for medium - upper range properties, think again, you could be doing you and your asking price a great injustice. And if you consider spending money on home staging an expensive proposition, perhaps you are missing out on your greatest investment opportunity in a long time...

Staging is not just for top end property

When selling a home, most people think that the concept of home staging is a service only for top-end property.

The truth of the matter is that any property can benefit from either a property presentation review (which helps determine areas of the property can that can be improved or changed to create a more welcoming space for buyers) or having the property styled for sale if it is vacant.

Shift by Design recently styled a vacant property for sale in one of Hobart's outer suburbs. The property was a small two bedroom unit that would not normally be an ideal candidate for furniture rental for two main reasons, the asking price and the current finish on the property.

I this case, the client was advised the funds to be used for furniture rental would be better off used to recarpet and repaint the property. The latter was done in key areas and the client still felt strongly about having furniture in the property to display it properly.

Shift by Design installed two bedrooms and an open plan living and dining area and dramatically transformed the property from a dark and relatively uninviting home into a fresh and open space.

The client could not believe the results, she commented that it could not be the same property and the agent was pleasantly surprised with the difference the investment in furniture rental made. In fact, after listing the property online more than 500 hits on the website were registered and the agent suddenly had 8 interested parties to show the property to.

So regardless of the value of your property, home staging or home styling can add significant value to your property and in turn, the potential sale price of your property.

Contact Shift by Design for more details.

Home staging sells property

Shift by Design were recently engaged to assist in the preparation of 2 properties in distinctly different markets and locations in the outer suburbs of Hobart in Tasmania.

The difference between these properties was that one was a more rural based property and the other was in a growing suburb 15 mins out of the city centre. 

Interestingly enough, both homes had been for sale for some time and both had been vacant up until Shift by Design were engaged to style and stage the homes. 

Both owners were looking to introduce something new into the equation and home staging was the ideal solution, what better way to engage the buyer and define the space in the property.

Using stock from Shift's extensive collection, each property was staged specific to the individual needs of both the home and the prospective home buyer. These are important considerations when staging a home for sale, as you only get one chance to make a positive first impression.

Both properties had only key areas of the home staged for sale, this meant the overall cost of the project was minimised yet the property look and feel was maximised. Keeping some rooms vacant will not hurt your selling chances, but staging key rooms such as the master bedroom, lounge room and dining room will make a huge difference to your buyers.

As was the case with both these home staging projects. After sitting on the market with no interest for some considerable time, both properties had multiple offers for contract within the first open home! A great result and proof that home staging is both cost effective and drives results.

While ideally a property would be staged prior to going onto the market, it also shows that home staging can be introduced with effect at any time of the selling cycle.

Shift by Design offer a full range of property presentation and home staging services to get your home or your listing ready for market. Call us for more details on how we can assist you sell your home faster and for potentially more money.

Vacant property = clean canvas for creativity

The thing I enjoy most about staging vacant property for sale (and this is what we mainly do) is walking into that property for the first time and seeing either the challenge or the opportunity that lays before me.

I say challenge, because the properties a home stager visits are usually are normally the ones that either have been sitting around for a while or that prospective buyers are having trouble identifying with as there is no furniture and therefore no scale (or depth) to the rooms. They are no less saleable than any other property, they are neat but it's just that sometimes they are difficult to picture furniture in. That is good as they provide the home stager a challenge, and without this factor there would not be the satisfaction there is in our work.

The joy in my job is being able to assist buyers overcome this hurdle and identify the benefits of the property through stylish presentation and staging techniques.

Shift by Design recently worked on a lovely property with a terrific client that had a large open living space which was initially difficult to determine space for furnishings due to the placement of a woodheater, doors and the kitchen. We also had to work in the constraints of the existing wall and flooring colours as well as that of the kitchen benchtops. However the result was quite pleasing and we were able to keep the property neutral and functional and define the traffic paths for the home buyer:

Then there are other properties that have something obviously quite special to work with, timber floors for example, that provide you with a wonderful scheme to work with from the beginning. These properties have opportunity written all over them from the moment you walk in. You can see the furniture that picks up the floor boards, you can see the accessories that will highlight the wall colour and you can define room types in a single second. These properties are equally as rewarding as the challenges because your home staging skills lead you in the right direction within seconds of seeing the property.

Shift by Design worked on such a property recently that allowed us to produce a very neatly staged property on a budget that suited our client:

Either way, whether Shift by Design sees your project as a challenge (to sharpen our home staging skills further and provide your property a great new look) or as an opportunity (to showcase the our skills we have honed so well over time and deliver a fresh looking property for sale) we look forward to being able to assist you with your project.