Staging Your St. Petersburg Home: Faster Sale, Higher Price

These days, more and more people have begun to take advantage of the idea of staging their houses when potential buyers come around. Staging goes well beyond the cleaning and tidying process (although these steps are by no means skipped), and creates the appearance of a home that is ready for a buyer to inhabit. Staging focuses on the idea of a house as a home, rather than a financial investment. More and more studies are finding that sellers in St. Petersburg who stage their homes sell much faster, and at higher prices, than those who do not.

The staging process. Staging uses the placement of furniture and accessories to bring a room to life in the perception of the potential buyer. Many properties for sale are looked at either when they are too sparse or too homey in their atmosphere. In the too-sparse scenario, a house is being sold with the owners already having moved out. There is little or no furniture. A prospective buyer will have a hard time envisioning himself living in that lifeless building.

On the other hand, there are some houses that can overwhelm a buyer with their unique sense of individuality and their preponderance of creature comforts. Family pictures on the wall, peculiar decorating tastes, and perhaps even rooms which have suffered neglect due to familiarity tell the buyer that this house is someone else's, and not his. It's important to strip down to basics so that anyone can picture making the house his or her own.

Tools of the trade. Staging a home is usually a matter of furniture and decoration. The most common types of furniture used in staging a room are neutral modern pieces - ones that don't jump out at a buyer but instead complement the room itself. Professional stagers from St. Petersburg blend the furniture and décor in such a way that there is a central focal point, and a flow to the space.

What a staging does. Aside from allowing the potential buyer to picture the house as his own, a staging can help to deflect attention away from minor flaws in the makeup of a room or house. Bare rooms have only their appearance to sell them, so if the floor is slightly sloped or the mantelpiece off kilter, it will tend to stand out. Making the room appear as though someone uses it constantly through furniture and accessory placement demonstrates the livability of a room and greatly reduces flaws.

There are several options when it comes to staging a home for sale in St. Petersburg. There are professional stagers who can be hired to do the job for you, and often the price that can be fetched on a home that has been staged is well worth the small investment. You could also attempt to do it yourself, but you may find it easier to go through someone who already has a good stockpile of staging equipment. Either way, remember to focus on presenting the house as a place where a tired buyer can feel right at home.