Why Stage? An Introduction to Staging Your Apartment

By Sydney Maag

For the potential buyer, the experience of purchasing a home is as much an emotional decision as it is a rational or financial one – you always want to elicit that gut ‘this is it’ feeling in potential buyer.

Although it’s important to make sure the space is clean and uncluttered, most of us can do that on our own.  Many sellers in New York will have their homes professionally staged to give their listing an edge and make a lasting and favorable impression on the buyer.  With a well-done staging job, you can create a space that invites the buyer in, encourages them to imagine themselves living there and have that gut ‘this is it’ moment.

As a rule of thumb, it’s best not to get too carried away with colors and decorative touches. Try to hone in on who your target audience is and showcase the space in a way that reflects how they would want to live there. Most people react more positively when surrounded by calm and clean color palette, so try to incorporate these hues into the design scheme. If there are special and unique elements about the property, make those focal points in the overall staging design.  As has been said, your aim should be to create a lasting and memorable impression of style uniqueness and taste.

A staged home has much greater appeal to the buyer than an empty or untended home, so staging can be an affordable way to give your property an edge in a hot real estate market. Keep in mind that costs of staging are typically less than the cost of the first price reduction -  so it’s definitely something to consider!

Tags: color palette, home value, interior design, price reduction, staging