Why styling your home is worth the investment

You may love your furniture and signature style but when it comes time to sell your home, moving your beloved items out is the way to go.

In recent years, property styling has increased in popularity as a way to improve sales results, especially where people have high expectations of the properties they inspect.

Here’s what it involves and why it matters.

What is property styling?

Property styling, or home staging, involves inviting a professional to view your home with the eyes of an interiors expert. This expert will figure out how to bring in furniture and decor that makes your home look as spacious and comfortable as possible. They will also match items to the style of the home so everything flows nicely.

You can request styling for a home or apartment of any size. It can actually be more important for small spaces because the stylist will make it look bigger and less cluttered.

Your stylist can work on a few key rooms or the entire home. Depending on your needs, they can improve what you have, or remove and store your existing furniture, then move in their own pieces to stay in your home while it is on the market. An empty home or apartment can look far more appealing with furniture, which is why the cost of hiring furniture is worth it to achieve a better sales price.

Why styling matters

First impressions matter in property sales. This counts for both the photography that is shared online and your open home.

A clean, well-presented home is more eye-catching. It makes the buyer want to live there. Scroll through some local property listings on the Lower North Shore and you will see how the beautifully styled homes are immediately more appealing. These are the homes you are more likely to shortlist and want to view in person.

A property that looks cluttered or doesn’t present nicely may stand out for the wrong reasons. People can quickly identify it as a bargain and bid lower for it. If you’re in need of a quick sale this might be ok with you, however, you may be potentially missing out on thousands of extra dollars.

Styling also goes beyond decluttering. You definitely need to clear the home of your belongings, but your pre-loved furniture might also need a re-think. Modern furniture or pieces from the appropriate era that don’t look weathered definitely improve that all-important first impression.

The return on investment of property styling

When you’re selling your home, the thought of staging it can be overwhelming. However, it’s definitely worth the investment.

As shared by yourinvestmentpropertymag, one study found that for every $1 invested in property staging the property owner received a return of $20 on average. Other statistics share that a staged home will sell for at least 10% more than it would without the help of a stylist.

For a $1.5 million home, an investment of a few thousand dollars for styling can result in an additional $150,000 on the final sale price. It’s easy to see why it makes sense, particularly in upmarket areas like Neutral Bay, Cremorne and Mosman.

We are lucky to have excellent stylists who work for us on our sales campaigns. They will look carefully at a home and present it so it looks beautiful and appeals to the type of person that is most likely to buy it. When we sell your home, we can introduce you to our recommended property stylists to make the sales process easier and less stressful.

Contact us today for an appraisal on your investment or home!