Why Home Staging Matters: The Real Impact on Buyers

What actually makes home staging so powerful? 

In this episode, Alisa Sparks explains why home staging is more than decorating. It’s a strategic marketing tool that helps homes sell faster and for more money. She breaks down the psychology behind buyer decisions, how staging impacts ROI, and why even new construction homes benefit from being professionally staged. 

If you're a homeowner, real estate agent, builder, or someone interested in the home staging industry, this conversation will change the way you think about selling property.

Transcript

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I've watched really good homes, clean homes, well-cared for homes, sit on the market for extended periods of time. And what's interesting is I've watched those same exact homes get staged and shortly after they end up going under contract. And the only reason why is now the buyer has a vision and an understanding for what that home can really be. What's interesting is with home staging, oftentimes we throw that word out and everybody goes, I know what that means. You're decorating a house. But the reality is home staging is not just decorating a house. It is so much more than that, and it really comes down to a marketing tool and tactic to allow you to maximize the value that you're getting out of your property. I've been doing this long enough to see a lot of interesting things. I always say it blows my mind that you should invest money into hiring somebody to put furniture and decor into your home just so that you can turn around and sell it. That's not really a logical statement. But what I've also seen over and over again is that it there's something that happens emotionally and psychologically with a buyer when they walk into a property, they see the potential for what it can be, and they start creating these stories in their brain of what it's gonna be like when they're cooking in the kitchen and the kids are at the kitchen island doing their homework. What it's gonna be like on a Saturday afternoon if you're watching the football game, those are the memories that actually sell the home. And that's why home staging is so important. What I want to do today is talk to you a little bit more about what home staging truly is and why it can have such a big impact on you when you're selling your home. So let's start with what home staging is not. It's not about a seller's taste. Sometimes we'll have potential people come in and say, hey, I really want to bring in blues into this room. And listen, I get it, but it's not my job to decorate the home for you. It's my job to attract as many people into the door to fall in love with your space as possible. And just maybe if I bring that blue in, like you're asking, it's gonna deter somebody else from seeing the true potential of your home. The other thing that home staging is not is it's not a trend just for trend's sake. It's not something that's just cool or fun or funky. There's a very real strategy around the placement of furniture. There's a very real strategy around what we design and the colors and the schemes that we use. What's interesting is when we think about how we're gonna place furniture in a room, for example, we strategize on the MLS photography. Where is the photographer gonna stand? What kind of views are they gonna see? And let's make sure we're highlighting the architectural features of the home. But then the next piece is we think about the buyer themselves. So when they're walking through that property, is there anything that I'm doing to block sight lines from the potential of where I want them to go? When they walk in that front door, if I want to take them all the way out to that beautiful backyard that overlooks the golf course, I better make sure that there are clear sight lines to that golf course so that they have this wow moment the moment they step into that door. And if I put a sofa that blocks that view, all of that changes. These are the little micro decisions that we make in staging when we really focus on marketing your property and the assets that it offers for somebody else. Home staging is not just decorating. Decorating is personal and decorating is interior design. That's that scenario where you're living in your home, the home should be a reflection of you. And listen, I get it. For years, my front door was pink and my fireplace was pink too. But I will openly say if I was gonna turn around and sell my house, that front door and that fireplace would be the first thing that I would be painting. Not because the pink looked bad, not because the pink was wrong, but because the pink was a distinct design decision for me, but not for most everybody. And these are the sorts of things you want to think about when you're staging a property is how do we appeal to the masses and how do we attract the most potential buyers? I want to share with you one of my favorite stories that I think exemplifies the importance of staging. Let me tell you a little story about Susie and John. Well, you see, Susie and John met online on a dating app, and John really wanted to impress Suzy. And so he was in this scenario where right before their first date, he was thinking about what to wear, and he had a couple of options. One of them was this like nice buttoned-down shirt with some jeans, and he was going to look impressive. The other one was just gym shorts and a t-shirt. Now, it might seem like a really obvious answer that maybe John should be picking the polo and the buttoned-down shirt because that's gonna impress Suzy. But that is the same exact scenario that we run into when we're actually staging a home. The way that you present yourself, the way that you are presenting your home, that's gonna have the impact. And you know what? Susie's eyes on John in those first seven seconds, she's gonna make all the decisions she wants to make about whether or not she wants to continue having a good date with John. She's gonna make assumptions about who John is and what he is like based on that initial aesthetic. And so we wanna do the same thing in home staging. When you have a buyer that walks into that property, you want them to go, wow, this is attractive. This is everything that I'm looking for and everything I want. And then they start imagining their future in that home. That's the goal with home staging. One of the other questions we get sometimes when it comes to staging is clients will call and say, Hey, Elisa, I would like to sell this house. It's not moving on the market. We're not getting a ton of attention or buyers coming through. But the feedback that we're getting is the kitchen is too small or the outdoor space is too noisy. It's right next to a road. And they say, staging can't fix that, but I don't know what to do. And here's what's really interesting is they're a hundred percent right. Staging does not fix a small kitchen and magically make it bigger. And staging does not fix the fact that you have a really busy road running through your backyard. But staging does do something different. It highlights the features of the home. So we actually had this exact scenario happen with a client not too long ago. The agent called me and she said, Alisa, I'm in this scenario where the kitchen is too small. It's a beautiful, beautiful home. It showed very, very well, with the exception of everybody saying that the kitchen is far too small for the size of the home. I said, Listen, I get it. I can't make your kitchen any bigger, but what we can do is stage it. And something really interesting is gonna happen. They're gonna start to fall in love with the home before they get to the kitchen. They're gonna see the potential of all the other spaces, and all of a sudden, that nuance that was a red flag when the home was empty just sort of disappears. And she looked at me and she was like, I don't know that I really believe that, but I have no other choice. So let's go ahead and give this a try because this house has to sell for my clients. We came in and we staged the home, and this home sold within just a couple of days. And it's interesting because we've watched that repeat again and again and again. All it comes down to is giving and painting a vision for your buyers on the potential of what this property can truly be. And then all of a sudden, those imperfections that every home is going to have get overlooked. And so you really see what a home can do for you and your family, and that sells the dream. So let me talk to you a little bit about the real value that home staging provides. To me, I think that it really comes down to three things. One, the emotional value. I've hit on this a couple of times already, but I cannot discredit the importance of the emotional impact that a buyer has when they walk into a home and they purchase. If you ask any real estate agent, any builder, they will tell you that buyers buy on emotion, especially when it comes to their personal home. And so that emotional value is the secret key in home staging that unlocks its ability to sell faster and for more money. The second value add is finance. So I can't technically say that you're gonna get this incredible, amazing, perfect ROI, nor can I guarantee your results. But what I can say is we've seen over and over again that the investment that you put into staging your property, that$5,000 staging cost or$10,000 staging cost, whatever it may be, is going to be so much smaller than the$50,000 price reduction that has to happen if your home doesn't sell or it isn't priced right. And so what we always like to assess and think about is how do we maximize the ROI for our clients? This isn't about selling and making sure that we're staging every single home in the property. But if there's a home in a property that needs solving and the ROI is there, that's a piece that we want to stage. Staging is truly just about ROI, return on investment. The third value add is time. And we see again and again that staged houses sell faster. Specifically within the Linden Creek brand, we find that they sell at least two times faster than the industry average. And that means less days on market, less overhead costs for you while you're paying for the mortgage. And it also means that you and your family get the opportunity to move on to the next season in your life and business and don't have to stress about showings and negotiations. You're ready in that new home and space, and you get to live your very best life. Sometimes we get the question with new construction of do I actually need to stage the home? The house is perfect. So in that instance, we're not hiding maybe a scuff that's on the wall or an imperfection on the floor that happened in real life. Every ounce of it is two the nines. And so, why do you need to actually put furniture into these custom, beautiful new construction homes? The reason is simple. Oftentimes, scale is not understood by the general consumer that's walking through the home. And I'm gonna share an example of that with you. The other day I was walking a property with one of our clients, and they build beautiful luxury high-end custom homes. And we walked into the primary bedroom and I said, We're gonna want to stage this. And they said, Well, I'm kind of on the fence about it, actually. We'd like to save on budget. We're not sure we want to pull the trigger on that. I said, That's fair. And this was a designer that I was talking to. She was the one that was making the decisions on the design of the home, the size of the home, the finishes. She was in the industry. And I said, How much furniture do you think we could fit in this room? And she goes, Well, probably a bed and a dresser. And that would be about right. And I said, Let me pull out my tape measure and show you. And so I pulled out my tape measure and I measured the length of the bed. I measured the seven feet that it was going to take up. And I said, Your bed is going to end right here. And she looked at me and she looked at the floor and she goes, This room is so much bigger than I even realized. I said, Correct. You have a whole space over here for a seating area. You've got space for a bench at the end of the bed, and you have space for your dresser. And she looked at me and goes, We need to stage the primary bedroom because everyone needs to see just how spacious this is. What's so fascinating is a room actually gets bigger when it's furnished. It feels like it would be counterintuitive. Once I'm putting something into a room, it should get smaller, right? But that's not actually the case. The room gets substantially larger once it's furnished. And so that's the power of staging. So who is staging really for? Does this apply to just any house? The answer is if you want to leave money on the table, then don't stage. But if you want to maximize every dollar in your property, your home should be staged through and through. Staging is for luxury homes. Staging is for new construction. Staging is for existing homes that are on the market. And I know it sounds crazy to think about moving out of your property just to have somebody bring furniture in. But if you want to get top dollar for your home, if you want it to sell, if you want it to sit on the market for a shorter period of time, staging is absolutely a necessity. What's interesting is the trend in staging is growing every single year. What we found is across the country, about 15% of all homes are staged before they hit the market. That's it, 15%. So do you know what else is really exciting? Is if you are one of the 15%, you are already ahead of your competition. You are already doing things to set yourself and your property apart before it hits the market. One of my favorite parts about this job is always hearing the stories from people that are new to staging as a concept. They see the magic in it or they go, wait a second, I actually was looking at a bunch of properties with my spouse last weekend, and I realized I liked the one that was staged the best, even though on paper it shouldn't have been the best. If you have a story like that, share it down below in the comments. I always love to hear it. Thank you for tuning in. Don't forget to like and subscribe.