Home Staging = Selling a Lifestyle
In the broadest sense, staging a home is about selling a lifestyle, which may or may not be the homeowners’. The job of a professional home stager is to emotionally connect home buyers to a house. Creating an opportunity for buyers to experience emotional connection requires market research, area knowledge, and a knack for translating demographic data into design styles and arrangements the target audience would find aesthetically and functionally pleasing.
While demographics refer to statistical data, psychographics pertain to attitudes, aspirations, and other psychological criteria. When staging a home for success, buyer psychographics should be considered to understand and target the most probable buyers:
— What industries might the buyer work in?
— What leisure activities do they enjoy?
— What features are most important to them and what will make their life easy at home?
Familiarity with nearby businesses, retailers, and even restaurants can help serve as a predictor of potential buyer profiles.
A staged home should appeal to a targeted audience, not necessarily the broadest.
Since the inception of home staging in the 1970s, staging tactics remain largely unchanged. The aim continues to prepare houses for sale so they sell in the fastest time and at the best price.
More recently, however, the audience scope has narrowed. Casting “the widest net” to attract the broadest range of buyers is a thing of the past. To sell quickly and for top dollar, we stage homes to attract the right buyer.
83% of buyers’ agents say that staging makes it easier for buyers to ‘visualize’ the property as their future home.
– The National Association of REALTORS® | 2019 Profile of Home Staging
Home staging creates space for buyers to mentally move into a home and is a proven marketing tool that continues to positively impact home sales.
Are you thinking of selling or curious how to best prepare your home for market? We can help! Get in touch or schedule an easy, 15-minute consultation.
