So you’ve decided that it’s finally time to sell your home. Bravo! It’s a great time to be selling your home in the GTA.  Sales are up double digits and show no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

But now what?

Presenting your home in the best possible light is just as important in a Sellers Market as it is in any market.  It’s a proven statistic that a staged home will spend 73% less time on the market than an unstaged home.  So fret not and let’s learn more about why if your selling your home in the GTA, staging is a must!

Staging: “the activity or practice of styling and furnishing a property for sale in such a way as to enhance its attractiveness to potential buyers.”

A few options will come into play once you’ve decided to sell and stage.  The most likely are that you continue to live in your home, or move out entirely prior to it hitting the market.

The benefit of continuing to live in your home is that you can arrange existing furniture alongside newer staging furniture.  Combining the best of yours with the best of a professional’s is clearly a way to also save in cost.  Who doesn’t love to save money!

A con however would be that your existing furniture doesn’t really shine the way today’s potential buyers are expecting it too.  (Let’s all thank HGTV & Instagram for this!) Especially when placed next to new furniture.  A good stager will always do their best to mix and match their pieces with yours to achieve a great interior, however there are always limitations.

The alternative for those selling in the GTA?  Sellers with a secondary home to go to (or just generous friends or family) can opt to completely move out of their home – and take their furniture with them!  This allows a professional stager to come in, wave their magical wand, and bring to life a magazine worthy interior.

Pros to this are that the stager can really hone into amplifying the highlights of the home utilizing a clear, polished and beautiful interior design strategy.  There is no old furniture in the way, and thus buyers too can envision themselves living in a model home that staging has helped to achieve.

Cons to this are certainly price.  Staging a whole home can range anywhere from $3500 for a 1 bedroom condo to $10,000+ for a 5000 sq ft home.  Also, be mindful that the staging is usually only to be left in the home for 30 days.  Just enough to have the home prepped, photographed and sold!  Anything beyond the 30 days and you will run into additional expenses.

At the end of the day, the ultimate goal of selling your home in the GTA, is to sell for top dollar and in the fastest time possible.  When considering potential buyers are envisioning themselves calling your home their own, home staging is an absolute no brainer!

Benefits include, but aren’t limited to:

• Helping potential buyers imagine themselves living in the home
• Photos + Video will be all that much better and really stand out online amongst hundreds of other homes for sale.
• Elevates and demonstrates the home’s true design potential
• Rooms designed correctly also make rooms appear larger
• (Also – No sticky or germy fingers on your own furniture!)

From an increased selling price, to selling quickly, the benefits of home staging ring loud and clear.  Magazine worthy model homes are every buyers dream.

Working closely with a realtor will also help to make the staging decision easy and streamline the entire process!

We at Abode Realty work closely with a professional network of the GTA’s best stagers.  Our top staging priority? Ensuring to tailor your home’s staging to the neighbourhood and aesthetic that makes it stand out from the crowd. Helping to create a seamless selling experience from start to finish.

Don’t leave money on the table!  For more information on our sellers process – which of course includes staging options!  Visit the Abode Realty Sellers page.