What is home staging and why is it a necessity today?

There are so many things to consider when you are thinking about selling your home that it can often feel a little overwhelming. You may have already planned to spruce up your home with repairs, a refresh of the décor and even some decluttering here and there, but what about staging?  Many buyers consider home staging as presenting a clean and tidy home, but there is a lot more to it than that. With an increasing number of homes competing for fewer buyers’ attention, home staging could give you the edge amongst other things. This is why at Maurice Kilbride, we wanted to give you all the information to help maximise your home’s potential, so let us introduce you to home staging and why it could be so important today.

What is home staging?

Home staging has been big in the USA and Australia for a number of years. It fuses together decorating and marketing to create an experience for home buyers that allows them to see themselves in your home. Your home should present a lifestyle – it should be warm, welcoming and void of personalised features such as family photos and mementoes. The reasoning being, this shows buyers your life, but you want buyers seeing what their life would be like living there.

According to data from the Home Staging Association UK & Ireland ‘staged homes receive an offer in an average of just 45 days, and in 33% of cases, sell over three times faster than a non-staged home.’

In their home staging report 2022, 100% of the respondents agreed that:

• Staging increases the number of viewings.

• Homebuyers spend more time viewing a staged home as opposed to a non-staged home.

• Properties with professional photos get more viewings than properties with poor images.

Staging 2023 key trends

Home staging styles often follow home interior trends. You always want to create a warm and welcoming environment. This year it’s about adding some natural elements, organic textures and, dare we say it, some pops of colour. Wellness is also extremely important this year in interior design, providing a space that promotes healthy living and self-care. Here are some of the key 2023 home-staging trends to think about when you are preparing your home for sale.

Bringing the outside in

Connecting your home with nature is a trend that has been around for a number of years; nature is powerful and can impact how we feel and is a fantastic source of stress relief. You can achieve this by adding some natural elements and shades to your room design as well as materials such as stone, wood and also plants. This is not about overpowering spaces with objects but thoughtfully placing items within a room design to create a cohesive and relaxing atmosphere.

Pops of colour

When it comes to home staging, the common rule of thumb has always been to stick to neutral colours, but this year you can also add a pop of colour to make a space feel less formal.  You don’t want to go wild as your décor needs to appeal to a wide selection of potential buyers and colour doesn’t always have to be through paintwork. Colour can be added through soft furnishings, such as throws and pillows, a key accent piece of furniture or even wallpaper.

Accent pieces

Another trend that is coming through from the interior design world is using accent pieces. Using something that is a little bold will make rooms more intriguing without having to do some major work. Again, you shouldn’t be filling your room full of interesting pieces: it is about adding one or a couple of strategic items such as decorative pieces or even artwork.

Technology

Technology is a tricky one, as it will appeal to some, make others curious and turn some buyers off. When it comes to eco-efficiencies, it will appeal to a much wider market but so also will practical devices such as a charging point for a car, security, smart home appliances and a ring doorbell and other security features.

‘Home staging used to be optional. Today, it’s a necessity in selling a house.’ Barbara Corcoran

It is a necessity?

The property market at the moment is in a strange place, with many forecasters anticipating a further drop in house price values in 2023, which is why you need to do everything you can to not only add value and attract buyers but get the right offers and help you move. If you would like more advice on how to not just present but stage your home for sale, speak to Patrick, Joe or Maurice on 0161 428 3663, e-mail sales@mkiea.co.uk or why not pop into our office on Cheadle High Street for a chat. Alternatively, you can book a free home marketing consultation and get an idea how much your home is worth in today’s market by booking online here https://mkiea.co.uk/valuation/