Shania Shegedyn
In putting your home on the market for sale, we all want to present it in the best light to prospective buyers, but this isn’t always as simple as it sounds.
Beyond a deep clean and declutter, an external refresh and perhaps a fresh lick of paint to cover a patch here and there, what exactly is needed to put your home’s best foot forward?
Staging your home to attract the best price goes far beyond simply being house proud. If you’re in danger of falling back in love with your home all over again, you may be in trouble – remember, you’re not the buyer! If you can’t remove yourself from your own impressions and experiences within the home and see it with someone else’s eye, you may be missing out on scores of potential buyers.
Enter the professional home stager.
“Properties need to present beautifully not only online, but in the flesh as well, in order to achieve a successful, profitable and speedy sale,” says Melinda Williams, Director and Senior Stylist with Domayne Hire & Property Styling.
Distance yourself from the process by engaging a professional home stager to do the work for you. For a fee, they can advise on what to get rid of, what to keep and bring in what’s needed to appeal to the market you’re trying to capture.
When we live in a property for a long time we can grow an attachment and can get blinded to its flaws,” says Melinda. “A professional property stylist helps you detach and depersonalise your home; ultimately showing your potential buyers how they can best use the space themselves and make it easier for them to imagine the life they could have if they were living there.”
Prospective buyers can’t always visualise how they will live in your home when it’s still yours – your furniture and family photos may get in the way of them being able to see themselves living within its walls.
Conversely, an empty home is far from attractive as only a small portion of Australians can imagine a life there without some sort of furnishing to elicit an emotional response.
With your hands already full of tasks and To Do lists to get your home on the market, delegating to a professional lightens your load and puts you in a “strictly business” state of mind. “There is more than enough to prepare for when selling your home without having to obsessively worry about its presentation,” says Melinda. “By engaging with a professional stager, they can work to your personal requirements, making the process effortless and easy as they tap into the resources they have available to them to get the job done effectively and efficiently.”
