They say that humans form crucial judgments about a person’s character in mere milliseconds of having seen their face, and it’s reasonable to assume similarly snap judgments are formed in many different aspects of our lives. 

We could easily draw similarities for the situation of buying a home. As soon as someone walks into their dream home, they know; their senses are engulfed by the overwhelming sentiment that this is not only the home they want, it’s the home they need.

As a real estate professional, it’s your job to elicit those feelings – and boy is there a lot that goes into it! Fear not, though, because in this article, we’re going to take you through one of the most important steps: home staging. This is possibly the most essential aspect to get right when you’re trying to sell someone their dream property, so stay tuned. 

What Home Staging Is and Is Not

Home staging represents arranging the property you’re trying to sell to be as appealing as possible. It’s the practice of organizing every element of the house to best allow the prospective buyer the ability to visualize themselves in it. In essence, then, you’re creating a fantasy – building a scene that looks like a living, working house rather than four walls, a front door, and a for sale sign in the front yard. 

Of course, exactly how you go about doing that is a very broad topic, and initially, we should also cover what home staging is not. Home staging doesn’t involve major renovations –  it’s the finishing touch. It’s not about personal taste, either, and should never reflect your own ideals of appealing decor. Whatever is done during the staging is also impermanent, and all items used are to be removed once the house is sold. 

You should also be careful to moderate your budget. It’s easy to get so carried away designing the setup of a home that buying furniture and decorations eats too much into the profits. Knowing where the limit is will be a personal discovery, but having someone on hand for a second opinion of when enough’s enough can be invaluable. 

Choosing the Style

Deciding upon the style you’re going to go for can be the most challenging part of the home staging process. However, the best place to start is to consider your audience, which could be anyone! You’re going for a very broad appeal here, so narrowing in on a specific style isn’t usually a good idea. 

Instead, keep neutrality in mind at all times. Soft, muted, subtle tones like whites and grays can be accented with other pastel colors for an appealing yet not overbearing appearance: these sorts of colors help the buyer envisage how they might put their own stamp on the place whilst showcasing the architecture optimally. When you’re considering furniture, think timeless pieces. What you choose should be modern, but again, without any overt styling. Keep things minimalist. 

While the styles here are meant to be kept as neutral as possible, there is also such a thing as too minimalistic. Given the muted color pallets, small details can add a great deal to keep everything from looking too sparse. One of your best bets is to use plants: a fresh, green corner plant can do wonders to make a space feel less clinical, as can an attractive bunch of flowers on a mantelpiece or coffee table. Finally, remember to keep things bright! Carefully consider the lighting and get as much natural light into the room as possible when you’re showing people around. 

Sticking with the minimalist look also helps ensure you don’t get carried away as described in the previous section; that problem tends to arise more if you’re trying to finetune more complicated decor, which you don’t have to really think about with such a simple and sure-fire way of making a home look visually appealing. 

The Importance of Storage Solutions

Now, you’re going to need somewhere to store all the furniture and bits and pieces you buy, especially considering that you’ll be reusing them for your next property (and that’s the beauty of the sort of styling described above: it fits in anywhere). 

Unless you want your own home cluttered with show pieces, real estate storage solutions are going to represent a key part of your overall strategy. You can affordably rent container units for however long you want to efficiently coordinate safely housing your furniture, and with most companies offering a range of sizes to choose from, you’ll be accommodated no matter how much you have. Of course, you’ll also be able to make use of delivery and pick-up services, and proper containers are controlled for temperature – so you never have to worry about the risk of mold and dampness ruining your furniture and costing you a ton of money. 

Storage isn’t something you only start thinking about afterward, either. It should be at the forefront of your mind before you buy a piece of furniture. While you’ll be afforded plenty of space in your storage unit, it’s not limitless, so think carefully about what you’re buying. Apply the same minimalist logic you’ve used when considering the styling to your own buying habits, and you’ll be good to go!

Wrapping Up

Home staging is an absolutely essential part of your skill set as a real estate professional, make no doubt about it. Honing these skills early is the cornerstone of an effective working strategy: with your style mostly set and your furniture safely stored, you’ll get into a routine that you won’t even really have to think about much before long. This gives you space to consider the more complicated aspects of selling a home, such as investment strategies and budgeting. 

This can be a very rewarding profession but, like any business, you get what you put in, and what you put in needs cleverly organized. Home staging is only one element, but with the above tips, hopefully, you now have a good idea of how to plan things out properly for yourself.