Category

Lifestyle

Category

How to style your living room

Your living room is one of the most important spaces to show potential buyers. This guide will help you to make some small changes which will entice people and enable them to imagine themselves relaxing there.

  1. Get rid of all old magazines and only keep the most recent 2 or 3. This goes for books on your shelves as well – those you have read either sell on Amazon or donate to charity. If your books are on display attempt different ways of stacking them or colour coordinating them.
  2. Get your art framed professionally and hang them carefully, using a spirit level and measuring tape.
  3. Style your coffee table with scented candles, design/art books and magazines and a couple of small plants. Succulents are my favourite plants for these sorts of arrangements.
  4. Sort out your wiring by getting yourself some wire ties to group them together in local areas. Where possible hide them behind your cabinets.
  5. Adjust the lighting so that you have a few levels, by this I mean floor and table lamps along with your main lighting. They provide just the right amount of light to make things feel welcoming and cosy.
  6. Move your plants around or buy some new ones. Not only do plants look spectacular but they bring the space to life, literally.

The Incredible Benefits of Property Styling

“Staging is preparing the home for sale so the buyer can mentally move in”

Barb Schwarz  – president of the international association of home staging professionals

The more I speak to people about property styling (more commonly known as home staging), the more I realise just how many of us don’t know what it is or don’t know of its importance. I’m here to tell you that property styling is an incredible way to sell your home quickly, beautifully and at your sale price! (or above in some cases)

Need more convincing that property styling is right for you? Take a look at some statistics:

  • Property styling deeply affects buyer’s perspective: Over 95% of buyers agents say that property styling has had at least some effect on the buyer’s view of the home.
  • When buyers can visualise the product as their home, an offer is made: Over 81% of buyers find it “easier to visualise the property as their future home” when it’s styled.
  • Even a flawed home has hope when styling happens: Almost a third (28%) of buyers are more willing to “overlook property faults” when the home is styled.
  • 12% of real estate agents believe that styling “increases the monetary value of the home” at least 11-20% more!

National association of realtors 2015 profile of home staging report

Reasons to stage:

  • Your home will make money – A survey by Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corp found that styled homes spend half the time on the market than non-styled homes and sold for more than 6% above the asking price.
  • Your house will sell faster – the national association of Realtors (NAR) found that the longer the home stays on the market, the further their price drops.
  • Your online photos will stand out – the same NAR survey found that 90% of potential buyers search online first.

    “You will make your money back – the average styling investment is between 1-3% of the homes asking price, which generates a property styling ROI of 8-10%”

  • Styled properties spend 73% less time on the market, if styled before it’s put on the market, they’ve sold 79% faster than those styled some time after being listed.
  • Properties that were styled post listing on average sold in 198 days, properties styled prior to listing sold in 42 days.
  • The longer your property is on the market, the longer you have the pay the mortgage and cannot move forward to your next home purchase.

Put off by the fact these stats are American? There’s no need to be.
Property styling isn’t common in the UK, therefore you’ll be putting your property even further ahead of the competition on the housing market by making that extra effort with the appearance.