Staging in the Busiest Real Estate Market in America
As a luxury interior designer, I am still amazed at the success and efficacy of real estate staging, particularly in a market like San Francisco. The New York Times and Wall Street Journal recently identified San Francisco as the "most expensive" real estate market in America! This in turn makes San Francisco the home of real estate staging excellence.
Having lived in cities like New York, Paris, Amsterdam, Boston and Honolulu I feel fortunate to having lived in such exotic and exciting locales. I admit, as a resident of San Francisco my pride flies high for such a monetary honor, but I worry about the people who can't afford to live here. (That is a subject for another post.) Until then, I wanted to share with you some of my thoughts and experiences staging in San Francisco over the past ten years.
There are many different reasons people stage their homes. Of course, we know that staging homes, no matter the type of property, sells properties faster and for more money. in fact, when we stage a condo in a large building where there are other units of the exact floor plan on the market, the one that is staged most often sells first, regardless of what floor it is on or the price. Time and again we have seen that after a prospective buyer has determined that the price is in their range, there is the right amount of square footage, and that the location is correct, their decision is based on emotional tug. In other words, when they walk in the front door, they feel an emotional need to live there. This is what ultimately makes them fight for the home and leads to bidding wars, all cash offers, escalated selling prices and waiving of the contingencies.
So how do we do it? Our team of talented designers not only love their jobs, they also have years of experience staging homes throughout the Bay Area. Only experience can teach us how to do our jobs better. In short, we know how to stage homes to sell fast and for more money. By neutralizing the property, that is taking out the personal artifacts and changing anything in the home that may spark an objection such as overly bold paint colors, outdated lighting or scuffed up floors, we are appealing to as many people who enter the home as possible.
We all know that buyers will look at 15 - 25 properties before they decide which to buy. When they are driving around town with their realtor, they are actually nicknaming properties to remember them more easily. We want our client's homes to get the best nicknames, i.e. gorgeous furniture, amazing lighting, etc. No one wants their home to be nicknamed "tacky dining wall color." We are adept at helping sellers realize these important details.
As a result, our homes sell within 45 days and realtors call us time and time again to help them sell. We love what we do, so when we are on the job, we put our clients homes center stage. The star of the show known as the "Great House Hunt." Happy hunting!
