Vanessa Williams

As much as we and all of the lovely listeners to this podcast and our viewers out there know we should be making financial decisions with our head, unfortunately, when it comes to property, especially ones that we are going to live in, we usually buy with our heart.

Mm-hmm.

And so when we talk about staging, what does that actually mean?

That means that you're creating a environment that people can see themselves living in the house.

Look, it kind of depends on your type of furniture and perhaps your type of buyer.

So look, if your real estate agent has recommended that, I always say get two or three in.

Because someone might say to you, look, professional staging, this is what it'll cost.

Another might say, well, actually, if we're targeting first-time buyers, which might have less money to spend, actually, your furniture is fine.

Or if it is empty, I would certainly really think about staging and really consider that in your budget.

Because

As we well know, empty houses, they're just harder to visualize what your life might look like when you're in that property.

But when you are thinking about anything to do with selling, you almost want to take your goggles off and put the goggles on of a buyer, start from your letterbox or out on the road and go, what is going to make me fall in love with this property?

What is going to make me see myself here as a permanent resident of this property going forward?

If you hadn't lived there, it's a bit hard to take that off, but I've said this before and I'll say it again, if you've got a really, really harsh friend, perhaps you're the best person to start that journey with back on the street and go, actually, what is our

curb appeal looking like what does our driveway how is our entrance and more so you know because we've got to get through all of that first and then you get into the house and it's just an empty shell oh I really can't see myself here so that's probably the bigger question to ask yourself put the money aside for the moment and go how can I attract the best type of buyer and create house price maximization by creating competition on your house by creating a warm environment that people want to live in

And we find ourselves getting a little bit biased on and perhaps can take a little bit personally if someone says, oh, perhaps we look at stage and you go, yeah, but what's wrong with my furniture?

You know, you've almost got to take yourself out of the equation.

I know that's easier said than done, but your furniture and the way your vibe and everything is quite personal to you.

And if it's harder for people and maybe you're a bit eclectic or as you said, you're a very wood driven house, they can actually put people off.

They can't actually see how fresh, light and bright something might look.