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Why “home staging” is key to selling or renting a property quickly - La Nacion Propiedades
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Propiedades: cuál es la clave para vender o alquilar tu casa rápido
Si querés vender o alquilar tu casa rápido, el home staging es una herramienta fácil de aplicar que recomiendan los expertos
www.lanacion.com.ar
February 19, 2024
If you want to sell or rent your house quickly, home staging is an easy-to-apply tool that experts recommend.
By Maria Josefina Lanzi
Home staging and the keys to selling or renting your house quickly
The offers of properties for rent increase or the stock to sell on Zonaprop and other platforms remains high, and with them the need to distinguish oneself from the abundance of proposals. Using good photographs of the property is key when bidding, as well as achieving a good presentation of the property for the time of visits.
Home staging has been installed in other countries for several years; “It started in the 70s in the United States and it took a lot for it to be established in Europe, but for about 10 or 15 years it has been working very well,” says Maribel Rivas, decorator and designer, who has been dedicated to home staging for six years. and who, for some time, has been working with the Interwin team providing their services.
Home staging is a marketing technique that real estate agencies or owners resort to to make their property more attractive and present it better, highlighting its strengths, through different tools.
Figures from Lumina, a Spanish company that offers services and training in home staging , ensure that using this technique, the sale of a property is completed in 35 days instead of 130. This tool can be used for sale, traditional or tourist rental and even in boats, mobile homes and all types of properties.
“There were people who booked to buy the property, without having visited it, after we applied home staging ,” said Sergio Catini, founder and director of Estudio 3R, a multidisciplinary studio that works on the image and communication of real estate projects , and adds: “There was a property that was published for a long time, approximately six months offered for sale. After the production we did, in one weekend they managed to make 15 visits and finally they booked it.”
The same space transformed by the home staging technique
They say there's nothing like the smell of freshly baked pudding or cake to make you feel at home. This is a classic practice that some real estate agencies use when showing a property to potential tenants or buyers. This tactic is part of others included in home staging.
“A primary need when going out to market a property is to clear, neutralize and make the spaces suitable for any audience,” says Catini. For his part, Rivas believes that “ home staging is a tool that creates value in the property and accelerates the pace of the operation.”
In January, an increase of 62% in the supply of rental properties was observed compared to December of last year, according to the latest Zonaprop report. The greater amount of offer leads to the need to distinguish oneself from the other proposals and home staging can be a key tool that leads to finalizing contracts and sales.
A nod to the origins of cinema: recycled cardboard
To be able to equip a house in time, before the visits with the real estate agents arrive, it is crucial to have furniture that is easy to move. “ One of the current trends is the use of furniture made from recyclable cardboard ,” says Dario Durban, founding partner of Durban & Keiller. This furniture is ecological and economical, in addition to having the advantage that it can be easily moved from one property to another, to decorate the house and show it in the best possible way.
“At the beginning of home staging, real furniture was used; Later, used furniture was used and, today, in general, all the boxes used are made of recycled cardboard , although the ornamentation is real. It was perfected to save transportation costs or assembly times,” says Rivas.
According to Lumina, using home staging, the sale of a property is completed in 35 days instead of 130.
Real textiles are placed on these cardboard furniture, preferably in cozy and neutral colors, to achieve a warm atmosphere. In the same way, it is recommended not to use many decorative objects, to depersonalize the house and make any visitor feel identified or project themselves as living in the place. Also take great care of the lighting, trying to keep blinds and curtains open , and leaving areas clear of clothing.
In any case, it is good to present the house as if it were inhabited, “taking care of details such as aromas, placing aromatic candles, making coffee or presenting the breakfast room as if a person were there about to start eating,” adds Durban.
Real textiles are placed on these cardboard furniture, preferably in cozy and neutral colors, to achieve a warm atmosphere. In the same way, it is recommended not to use many decorative objects, to depersonalize the house and make any visitor feel identified or project themselves as living in the place. Also take great care of the lighting, trying to keep blinds and curtains open , and leaving areas clear of clothing.
In any case, it is good to present the house as if it were inhabited, “taking care of details such as aromas, placing aromatic candles, making coffee or presenting the breakfast room as if a person were there about to start eating,” adds Durban.
The before and after: the same balcony, different sensations
The application of home staging on that empty and uncoated balcony
Rivas also works by offering photography service with virtual decoration, although he also visits the physical place to decorate it and then take the real photos. “We provide the service of only doing the digital decoration, but we recommend that the home staging be physical, not virtual because the most important thing is that when you go to visit the property, it is equipped.”
Catini estimates that the number of views of ads that have home staging increases by five, compared to those that do not : “We measure it externally by visits to platforms where the offer is displayed. It is necessary to take into account that when finalizing the sale other elements come into play: negotiation, price, if it was sold, it was exchanged.” Furthermore, he adds that they constantly analyze what was discarded, to understand what can be improved in the next publication.
Catini explains that photography varies greatly, depending on the purpose of the property. In the case of traditional rentals, it is very important to know the spatiality and dimensions of the property, so in the images it is necessary to be able to show that . In the case of photos for AirBNB rentals, the important thing is to show the details and sensations “it is more of a vacation spirit, the tenant is not so interested in the size of the balcony, but knowing that there is an armchair and a small table, where “You can have a beer,” adds the founder and director of Estudio 3R.
Home staging , a real estate marketing tool
When selling a property, there are several elements that come into play. Rivas assures that, in addition to home staging , which is responsible for improving the image of a property, it is necessary to take into account three other components for real estate marketing: a price according to the market, the marketing efforts carried out and the positioning in Internet.
In this sense, he explains that, to achieve good management with home staging , it is important to have experience in real estate marketing and market research. In that sense, she, together with her husband, who has a degree in Marketing, has made motivational groups at the Gessel Chamber to investigate and learn about the interests and motivations of different socioeconomic groups with respect to housing. For her part, Maribel studied product design, was a furniture and accessory designer, real estate, had a chain of decoration stores and trained as a home stager in Barcelona. “The secret is that home staging is not merely decoration, but a real estate marketing tool that is based on motivational research carried out for years, to achieve the desired effect,” says the founder of Home Staging MotivacionalR.
Rivas affirms that all this leads to less haggling over the price, since it reduces possible counteroffers. Furthermore, according to statistics from the Spanish Home Staging Association (AHSE), this technique adds value to the home: “In 52% of cases it has increased the sales price by up to 25%.”
In that sense, Rivas lists the benefits of applying home staging to properties:
- More views on the portals
- More physical visits
- Less time to market (sells faster)
- Offers without so much haggling
- Better positioning for the real estate agency that offers the service
- Satisfied customers, therefore more recommendations
- Presentations are improved and property strengths are highlighted
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