How to Prepare a Flat for Sale to Earn More?

In the last post “How to prepare a flat for sale“, I wrote about why it is so important to prepare a flat for sale. If you want to know:

• why some apartments sell very fast while others linger on the property listing websites forever;
• is it always necessary to prepare a flat for sale (instead of e.g. giving a discount);
• why it is worth preparing the apartment for sale when everyone changes the interior design after buying anyway

firstly read the previous post “Why is my apartment not selling?” first.

Since we already know that putting effort in preparing a flat for sale (or renting – for the sake of convenience I will write using the word “sale” but everything I write here applies to renting too) is necessary, now we will look closer to what needs to be done. Today we will discuss what Home Staging really is. I will also present Home Staging statistics, because you always ask for them. And finally, I will explain why we wear make up for dates and how that relates to real estate.

HOME STAGING – WHAT IS IT?

Let’s start with Home Staging – what is it exactly? It is how we call properly preparing a flat for sale. Home Staging was created by Barb Schwarz. She noticed already in the 1970s that apartments specially prepared and arranged for customers sell faster and for higher prices. 27 years later Barb founded IAHSP – The International Association of Home Staging Professionals (I am proud to be their member and to learn from the foreign experience of this industry). Today, she is already recognized as one of the 50 most influential women in the real estate industry in the world. The woman knew what she was doing.

THE STORY OF A CERTAIN FLAT

Recently I had the pleasure of taking part in a webinar hosted by the creator of Home Staging – Barb Schwarz herself! One of her sayings stuck in my memory – “Buyers only know what they see, not the way it’s going to be!”. That sentence explained a story in which people who were friends of the owners of the house for sale decided to buy it… Right after the first Home Staging changes were made that showed the spaciousness of the house and its functionality.

You know why they didn’t do it before, even though they’ve probably been to this house hundreds of times? Because they thought the house would be too cramped for them and that they won’t able to squeeze in. They couldn’t imagine anything else, so they let go of the subject. Until the time of the change, when they saw with their own eyes that it could be different.

I wonder if you can guess when Home Staging became so popular abroad. It was during the crisis when real estate prices were falling and the competition was huge. Nowadays, everyone is wondering how the coronavirus will affect property prices. No matter how it ends up, it is worth being prepared for even more competition on the market than before. If you want to stand out, sell your apartment quickly and earn money on it, it is worth knowing how to prepare apartments for sale. And if you’re wondering whether it is worth thinking about all these efforts? I will show you some Home Staging statistics that speak for themselves.

WHAT IS HOME STAGING ABOUT?

Barb Schwarz had a strong connection with the theatre and musicals, which is why she came up with the idea of staging homes – Home Staging, just like a stage is designed for performance. In the apartments for sale, specific zones are created to show a particular lifestyle, emphasizing the value of the property and presented in such a way that they appeal to the target audience. You have to do the latter because it is impossible to prepare an apartment that will please everyone. Different things will be appreciated by families with small children, different by young people living alone, and different by middle-aged clients whose children are already grown-up.

HOME STAGING STATISTICS

The numbers say more than a thousand words. Especially if you also have an analytical mind like me. (after all, I have a degree in finances and worked earnestly in the accounting team a long time ago)

• 66% of brokers recommend Home Staging at the very start of property marketing.
• 94% of brokers admit that Home Staging has contributed to the increase in the number of home presentations.
• 100% of brokers admit that apartments that had professional pictures taken had more visits than apartments with bad pictures.
• 75% of the brokers admit that buyers spend more time in the Home Staged properties.
• 86% of brokers declare that flats that have been Home Staged sell up to three times faster than others.
• 78% of brokers admit that Home Staging increased the selling price of the property by up to 10% of the value of the apartment.
• 83% of brokers stated that Home Staging helps buyers imagine the property as their own apartment.
• 88% of Home Staged flats sell for the offer price or higher.

Did you expect such high numbers?

60 THOUSAND MORE

My experience shows that thanks to investing several thousand in the apartment, the owners have gained over 60 thousand more on the sale. How is this possible? The apartment was in a very good standard, but it needed a typical preparation for sale (e.g. arranging an unused room and highlighting the most important zones in the apartment). Prices per square meter of this type of flats in the area were usually about a thousand lower, but the client was delighted with this very flat.

Why? Because none of the flats they watched before looked so elegant and cozy that you could move in right away. This made the apartment unbeatable. The phone did not ring every day, there were not many visits. Only two phones, two visits, and sold. That’s it. The effect was achieved.