So, you want to sell your home? No matter how you are feeling about the home-selling process, one of those feelings is likely, “overwhelmed.” While researching ways to help your home sell faster, you may come across the terms, “home staging” and “redesign.” If you have ever watched any show on HGTV, you’ve most likely seen the clip at the very end showing people coming in to perfectly placed furniture and decor to create the illusion that the home is lived in. Hence, “home staging.” 

But why is staging a home so helpful? What is redesign? Which one is right for you? Hopefully this article can give you and/or your clients a better understanding of what these are and can help you move forward with confidence.

By definition, home staging is the process of adding decor, rearranging furniture, and expertly dressing up the home to make it look stunning for listing photos and walkthroughs. According to the National Association of Realtors, 31% of buyers increased their offer on a home 1-5% because the home was staged. 77% of buyers felt they were better able to see themselves moving into a staged home, and 40% were more willing to get in the car and visit a staged online find. 

Staging a home helps potential buyers to envision themselves living there. Most people cannot walk into a vacant home and imagine where their sofa would look best or which room would be good for an office. If someone walks into a home that is already beautifully set up, they can actually picture that lifestyle, are more inclined to buy that home, and that is why home staging is so helpful.

But, what if you feel like your home is already decorated okay and you just need a little help to get it looking it’s very best for listing photos? That is where redesign comes in.

The process of redesign involves working with the items you already have and maybe suggesting items to purchase to achieve a more finished look that will appeal to the majority of buyers. A professional designer will walk through your home with you and suggest things that you should remove, add, reconfigure, etc. and you would then list your home. However, this sometimes is not enough to appeal to potential buyers. Another variation of this is “soft staging,” which is when sellers elect to keep the majority of their items and just have a staging company add minimal pieces of furniture and decor. So, who is redesign best for?

• Sellers who cannot move all of their belongings out and have to list their home while they are still living there
• Sellers who are willing to move/ rearrange their current belongings based on the advice of the designer
• Sellers who may not be able to afford to pay for full staging, as redesign is going to cost less

So, to recap, home staging and redesign are definitely in the same family, but give very different results. Hiring a professional team to come in and stage your vacant home is likely going to make the most impact on potential buyers since all of the furniture will be picked specifically for that home and will go together cohesively. However, for situations where sellers either cannot afford to do that or feel that they already have a good handle on their home decor, redesign is a great option.