Selwyn Times: November 29, 2016

11
Your guide to Show Homes & New Sections
in the Selwyn District
Staging a property
Staging is a relatively new technique in presenting a house for sale
where furniture and furnishings are used to enhance an empty house.
The practice of staging is not new. A decade
ago exceptional properties may have been staged
however, in the last five years, this practise has
increased.
Many real estate agents are proponents of
staging, believing that it assists people to visualise
how their lives would fit within a house they are
viewing. Seeing nice furniture in the home can
also lead to a buyer making a quicker decision,
translating into a reduced time that a house is
on the market due to a wider group of people
showing interest in securing the property.
“People buy what they see. If they see a nicely
dressed house, they can envisage themselves and
their furniture in that environment,” says Mike
Goatley from Rolleston’s One Agency.
“If a house is empty at the time of sale, a
smaller portion of the market will find it easy to
compare the area of each room with the size of
their own furniture and visualise how it would
look in the space.”
According to Mike, a staged property creates
more interest with more buyers thinking: ‘Yes
that’s me.’ This leads to the potential for more
competition and a better sales price.
Research conducted in the United States
supports this theory and while hard to quantify,
the belief is that staging could lead to a sale price
ten times greater than the cost of staging.
“Staging a house, generally puts a property into
the sell zone, ahead of an empty property even
where the latter is as good as or offers more,”
adds Mike.
Karen Askew has been staging her own
properties for ten years and for the last five years
has operated home staging businesses, X Factor
Home Presentation and more recently Signature
Styling.
“The challenge is to understand how particular
furniture and furnishings can add to a house,
changing the perspective of room size to make
it look larger,” explains Karen. “With an older
house the eye will focus on imperfections rather
than what the room could be. Staging minimises
this.”
Karen emphasises that staging goes beyond
colours and styles. While these are important, it
is more about providing the person walking into
the room with a possibility.
“The premise behind auctioning a house
is to get people emotionally involved so they
will compete to win the property,” says Karen
“Staging also provides an emotional connection.”
While most of her work is with empty houses,
Karen also advises people on how to de-clutter
their homes while adding in key pieces to present
the house to its best advantage. Sellers regularly
tell her that once they see their house staged, it
looks so good they often wish they were keeping
the property.
“We create an atmosphere that they didn’t even
realise could be created,” adds Karen.
Home Styling & Staging Services
Make your house
stand out from the rest
Karen Askew | Cell 0274-324-542
Facebook page – Signature Styling | Website – www.signaturestyling.co.nz