Buying and selling homes can be extremely stressful for clients. It can be a challenging and exhausting journey and, unfortunately for many people, it can take a very long time. Some people cannot understand why their beautiful home that was designed by an interior decorator just isn’t selling. This is where home staging comes in! Staged homes are statistically sold faster and for higher amounts than their non-staged counterparts because they remove the home from the house. What’s the best way to achieve this targeted depersonalization? Become a certified home stager!
Not sure how home staging courses are going to help? Keep reading to find out.
A Home vs. a House
To start off, there is a large difference between a house and a home. Homes have families and homeowners that care about their space. They live in the rooms and really make it their own with their own style, knick-knacks, souvenirs, etc. It’s a place that allows those people to feel perfectly at ease. On the other hand, a house is a building that someone could live in that doesn’t need to have any specific markings of a homeowner. It creates a sense of possibility.
When you walk through a home you look at the picture frames and the dog bed and think, “Wow, they have done a great job with this space. It really feels likes Sarah lives here.” When you walk through a house you think, “Wow, this is such a beautiful space. I would paint that wall a lemon yellow to match my favorite cushion and hang up my favorite painting right over that table!”
If you haven’t already picked it out. The key difference is that one is a place where you can really see and appreciate another person’s life. The other is one where you could see your life taking place. This is why home staging and home staging courses are so important because they turn a home into a house.
Home Staging vs. Your Own Style
Home staging makes it easier for people to picture themselves in a space. But if the walls are painted the worst color you could ever imagine, some people might have a hard time with mental visualization. When you properly stage a house, it makes envisioning it as their home so much easier. They don’t have to look past your personality and your style. They’ll have a blank canvas to project their vision onto.
The main thing to remember when it comes to home staging is that it really isn’t about having a beautiful home. There are many people who might think they have the best taste in the world. But if it doesn’t appeal to others, you’ll have a harder time getting that sale.
Home Staging Certification Courses vs. Not Certified
How do classes come into play? Well, there’s a huge difference between a certified stager and someone who is essentially winging it. This isn’t to say that hands-on experience in staging isn’t valuable. But, without formal training, you miss out on a large amount of backing knowledge that will inform your design choices. Here are some of the invaluable things that a home staging course will teach you:
1. How to Tackle Curb Appeal
Curb appeal refers to how a home looks from the outside (curb distance!). When people pull up to the driveway for the first time, they make their first impression. If they dislike how the outside looks, they might not even bother going in. Professional home staging courses will teach you how to make a house look neutral enough from the outside to attract a wide audience. It will also tell you all the small details that people really notice when they stand across the street to look at a building.
2. How to Handle Professional Home Photography
Many people start their home search online. Therefore, it is really important to have nice professional photos of the rooms. There are multiple ways to shoot homes. Depending on the size of the spaces, the angles, the windows, etc., it may require a different approach to make the home look the best it can.
3. How to Distract from Flaws
From lighting to painting to furniture placement and more. There are lots of tips and tricks to make rooms feel larger and make the most of poor traffic flow or low ceilings. Home staging courses will teach you all about the right choices to make no matter what space you are given to work with!
4. How to Manage Staging a Home that Still has Residents
It’s a whole different situation when you stage a home when people are still living there. Believe us, it’s much harder! To declutter and depersonalize a space while the current homeowners still reside there, is hard for multiple reasons. They might be having a hard time letting objects go or be stored away when they want to see them every day. Home staging courses will equip you with how to handle these situations and approach people that might be hesitant or emotional.
5. How to Perform Buyer Research
Another thing you’ll learn is how to research the neighborhood and potential types of buyers. Not only must you understand the home you’re staging, but you’ll also need to tap into the psychology of prospective buyers. This way, you can tailor the home to a specific type of individual. For example, you wouldn’t stage a country cottage the same way you would set up a downtown luxury apartment. You also wouldn’t stage a house for a new family the way you would for an older married couple. Location and functionality are large elements of buying a house! Catering to those needs and desires will take your home staging to a new level of expertise.
Overall, depersonalizing a house is the best way to sell a home quickly and at a high price. And nothing can beat a certified home stager when it comes to depersonalizing a house – even if the people are still living there. So if you’re looking to add another skill into your professional tool-box whether you’re an interior designer, professional organizer, or real estate agent, consider taking a home staging class. You won’t regret it!
Have any home staging advice? Let us know in a comment!