Said no-one ever. If you're buying a house you want it to be 'amazing', 'unbelievable', 'beautiful', 'cute', 'quirky'; you want to be bowled over by it, fall madly in love with it. At the very least, you want it to have 'loads of potential'. What it shouldn't be is 'fine', 'ok', or 'nothing special'.
Why use a home stager?
Unfortunately, a lot of sellers think their houses are fine as they are; it's always worked for them as it is so it will work for the next person. And that's what stops it having the wow factor; it's also what stops them achieving the price they want for it. Potential buyers don't want to see sofas covered up by tatty throws and saggy cushions; that doesn't scream 'dream house', does it?
What does a home stager do?
My role is look at the house through the buyers' eyes and to re-envisage the space so that it appeals to as many people as possible. This involves assessing the house as a whole and then looking at it room by room, taking a lot of things away that don't need to be there, moving things within a room, swapping things and repurposing them from room to room, but then also adding other things in to make it look loved, vibrant, and full of life.
On Tuesday I spent 6 hours taking a 5-bedroom house from ok to desirable. And that is after I'd given the owners a room-by-room plan of what needed to be removed/moved and they had done a lot of the bigger jobs (please note that the only thing the clients purchased was a new fish tank, and that was their decision, not a suggestion of mine). To get a house to a good place so that you can get the best photos takes time and effort, and I work with photographers to make sure they get the best shots. I also supply a lot of soft furnishings, pictures, and plants to finish rooms off and make the house look inviting.
Because photographers are interested in the space, not the detail, things like scratches on the arm of the sofa won't show up on the photos so you shouldn't really sweat the small stuff. Any buyers coming round will be looking at the size of your sofa, not the state of it, and hopefully assessing whether theirs will fit in the same space, or in a different position. If I do my job right, they will be looking at the positives in a room, not trying to find negatives.
It truly baffles me that a lot of people put little or no effort into making their house look presentable to sell it (washing piled up on a dining table, unmade beds, toys strewn all over the garden, I could go on). Would you try and sell your car without giving it a wash and leaving 10 years of rubbish on/under the seats? Sounds absurd when you put it that way, but your house is your biggest investment and by doing your best to dress it/stage it properly, you'll generate more interest, sell it quicker, and get a better return.
Selling houses is all about perception and I can help you manufacture that 'warm fuzzy feeling' that people get when they walk into a home so that it continues and amplifies as they walk round the house and they fall in love with it as much as you once did.
I'm here to give advice, roll my sleeves up and get stuck in, and work with photographers to get the best pictures. I want your house to be the one buyers stop scrolling for.
For more info on home staging check out his blog: https://www.clutteristheenemy.co.uk/post/what-exactly-is-home-staging