3 Styling Tips that Will Sell Your House at a Higher Price
The global real estate market is booming after the Covid lockdown. In Melbourne, Australia, the home value hits records high this year, and many homeowners believe it is a good time to sell their properties.
In order to sell the house at a higher price, more and more vendors are willing to invest in marketing and property styling. According to research, the houses styled by professionals will likely increase your house’s value by 10%, so it is definitely a worthwhile investment.
I’ve changed my career from marketing to property styling for a couple of months now. My marketing background definitely helped me to think strategically before I start styling. Here are the three tips that I would like to share with you:
1. Define Your Target Buyers
First and foremost, property styling is not just about putting fancy furniture and decorations to your house, it is an integrated marketing strategy behind it. Whether you are the vendor or the real estate agent, the first question you should ask yourself is that who will be the target buyers to this property?
There are so many factors to attract buyers’ attention, the property’s size, floorplan, backyard, location, fixtures, views, surrounding amenities, school zones, transportation, etc. But basically, you can identify your target buyers by thinking about why you bought this house initially. The reasons will attract a similar type of buyers like you.
For example, a large-sized house in the suburb, locates next to the school will attract mature families with kids. The small apartment close to the CBD or train station will more likely suit young professionals or young couples.
If you just bought the house for investment and not so sure what is the target market, please do some research on the local demographic via real estate websites such as REV, then you could roughly know who lives here and what lifestyle they have.
Once you have a persona of what’s your target buyers, you will be more clear on what kind of style they like and what decorations will make sense for them.
2. Showcase the Best of Your Property
The primary goal of styling is to create an emotional connection with the buyers. The empty house is very difficult to give buyers a feeling about what it is like living in this place. And that is why nowadays more vendors and agents realize it is important to style the house before it goes to the market.
From the cozy sofas to the colorful cushions, the beautiful wall art to boutique accessories, the waffle linen to elegant lamps, the styling will transform a vacant property into a charming home that impresses the potential buyers, especially the buyers who would ask for a higher price during the property auction.
However, no property is perfect. All the properties have highlights and drawbacks. The living room might be too small, the bedroom is too narrow, the location is too close to the noisy main street, the natural light is not enough, etc. But with a thorough styling strategy, you definitely can bring out the best of your property.
For example, for a small dining space in the apartment or townhouse, the stylist usually will choose a glass dining table to make the space look more airy and spacious. While for a large rumpus or lounge in a family house, the stylist is more likely to use a wooden entertainment unit, TV, large sofa, or darker color scheme to fill the space and indicate how spacious the room is.
The styling can also remind buyers of the location of the property. For instance, for a house that is close to the beach, the stylist normally uses natural and lighter colors to create a relaxed beach vibe, which will highlight the location of the house.
3. Do Not Put Your Personality in the Styling
The vendors usually have a lot of memories of living on the property, which would make them very emotional sometimes. But when it comes to styling for the property for sale, it is vital that we should choose the style that will attract the majority of the people.
It is unlike interior design for your own home, where we have the freedom to find any niche and chic style that reflect the owner’s personal taste, property styling is all about how to attract as many buyers as possible.
I used to work for a couple of vendors who have their own furniture in the house and chose to do the partial styling. I found this type of vendor usually judges our styling based on their personal preference. For example, some Chinese vendors do not like the western style, while actually, the potential buyers in that area include both local and Chinese families. Therefore it is better to choose some neutral tones that are appealing to both of them.
Some vendors may also have special requirements that are not reasonable. There was a lady who doesn’t like artificial plants and insisted to use the real plants. As professional stylists, we have to remind the lady that it would not be feasible to put the real plant in a styled house for sale, as nobody will be there to water the plant every day. Those leaves may look old and tired in the next open inception. Luckily, she changed her mind and followed our advice in the end.
Property styling is definitely a job I love. It is creative, crafted but also commercial and strategic. The more project I worked on, the more things I found I need to learn.
This business is like an iceberg model, where the tip is what you see the beautiful houses that we decorated in the end, the bulk below the water is a whole system that you may not know.
From site analysis, targeting, strategy, design, layout, selecting furniture and accessories, packing, loading, installation to the final touch, the process of property styling is full of logic, challenge, consideration, creativity, problem-solving, aesthetics and of course, a lot of fun.
I hope this article will help you understand more about property styling. Maybe you can do it by yourself when you want to sell your house next time.
