5 Home Staging Trends to Watch - REALTOR® Magazine

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Staging professionals offer up ideas for prepping properties

September - October 2020 REALTOR® Magazine

How has the pandemic influenced home stagers? Bloggers from REALTOR® Magazine’s Styled, Staged & Sold team of staging professionals offer up ideas for prepping properties.

Send cozier vibes. “Cozy is the new ‘luxury.’ We’re using more place settings on tables, setting up a coffee station with a tray, mugs, and napkins, displaying magazines and books on coffee tables, and draping fur throw blankets over beds—all of this conveys a more homey feel. Outside, we’ll have a fire pit surrounded by chairs or a hammock on the lawn.” —Krisztina Bell, No Vacancy Inc. and Virtually Staging Properties Inc.

Give prominence to the home office. “We’re seeing the home office as an area to stage. We either stage a room that was clearly built as an office or we create a space for use as an office. The rise of people working from home means showing a space that can be used for that purpose. We’ve invested in more desks and office items to support the growing request.” —Jennie Norris, International Association of Home Staging Professionals

Spotlight outdoor living. “The ‘bonus room’ may now be your livable outdoor space. Home staging will not stop at the back door. From pretty porches that offer an optimal first impression to an outdoor haven that expands the home’s living space—staging in 2021 will embrace the entire property.” —Julea Joseph, Reinventing Space

Bring on the natural light. “The pandemic has created a higher level of anxiety. Studies suggest that natural light from great windows or enclosed outdoor spaces can boost people’s mood and, over the long term, improve mental health.” —Karen Post, Home Frosting

Offer contactless services. “We’ve offering our staging clients a safe and cost-effective way to enhance their property’s appeal and engage buyers with new virtual staging consultations and ‘staging box’ services. After our experts take a virtual tour of the seller’s home,, we provide ‘staging box’ options with front-door delivery. The box includes things like sofa pillows, rugs, wall art, lighting, bedding, and tabletop accessories, with detailed placement instructions and other guidance as needed.” —Patti Stern, PJ & Company Staging and Interior Decorating

Reprinted. For digital article https://magazine.realtor/home-and-design/feature/article/2020/09/5-home-staging-trends-to-watch.

Why Empty Homes Don't Sell

Every morning on my Chicago area social media feed, I see acres and acres of empty rooms posted by Realtors. So many empty dining rooms, breakfast rooms, kitchens, living and bedrooms.  Do I stop and click on the photo, intrigued to have a look at the room, the house, the property? No, I just scroll on by...  Do I read the eloquently written description?  Do I appreciate the professional photography?  No, I just scroll on by...  Why?  It's that they all look the same; devoid of any senses,  any flavor, any style. 

WHY?

#1. An empty home leaves an empty canvas to paint negative thoughts on – Prospective buyers will find imperfections and not interested or wanted features. An empty home amplifies negative thoughts. 

#2. Empty homes lack a vision of its layout (What is this room?)  A Staged homes explain how the home flows and how each space can be used.

#3.  An empty home is void of imagination and feeling.  People buy homes on emotion.  An empty property is just a HOUSE, a staged property becomes a HOME.  Home Staging creates the emotion that your prospective buyers envisioned.

#4. The National Association of REALTORS 2015 Profile on Home Staging found that 81% of buyers find it is easier to visualize a property as a future home when it's Staged. 

“A staged home may seem like it has furniture that’s fixed in place; but what is going on in the buyer’s mind is a very kinetic process. With a home that is staged, they see a family - celebrating home.”

— Julea Joseph