Have you been recommended a home staging service in Barcelona, but you don’t know what it is or how to get the most out of it? Don’t worry, below we are going to tell you in detail everything you need to know about home staging in Barcelona (since this is the area where we are experts).

What is Home Staging?

Home staging (also known as property styling) has been a mainstay of the US Real Estate sector for many years. In the last couple of decades, the practice has also begun to take off in Europe. In Barcelona, a number of home staging companies have emerged, made up of professional designers who have the knowledge and expertise to make homes look more attractive so that they can sell or rent faster. Like on a first date when you make an effort with how you look because you want to give a good impression, home staging does exactly the same for your property, in this case when you want to sell your apartment in Barcelona.

How to choose a home staging company?

If you are considering selling your home, you may ask yourself whether it is really necessary to spend your cash on having your home professionally styled. But, if you want to get the very best price for your property and sell it quickly, many believe that home staging should be regarded as an investment rather than an expense

“There is a misunderstanding that staging is an expensive and avoidable cost. Home staging is a winning tactic and professional stagers keep demonstrating that with their work, providing great value to a real estate sale and cutting money loss for the sellers. The biggest mistake is forgetting home staging and not designing a winning selling strategy before listing the property.

In Spain sellers come to us for help when the house has been sitting on the market for months or even years of not getting offers, collecting price reductions and causing a lot of frustration when they should have come before going live on the market.

We have had several cases where that same house sold in a few weeks after we staged it. Sellers then often comment: “Why has nobody told us about home staging before?” With the years, properties tend to accumulate items and become more personal and sellers don’t realize how much the appearance, the style or the aesthetics affect the sale. Tidying the house is important but often is not enough to make the most out of a home when trying to sell it well”, says Monica Renau, founder of Markham Stagers

Types of Home Staging

Physical Home Staging

Physical home staging involves arranging furniture and furnishings in a property to showcase its best attributes. Buyers tend to have a more personal experience as it establishes more of an emotional connection between home and buyer. It also helps potential buyers understand how the space can be used and how their own furniture could fit into each room. The downside is that physical staging costs more and takes longer than virtual staging

Virtual home staging

Virtual (or digital staging) uses online techniques to showcase a home without the need for physical staging. It allows a buyer to imagine what the home would feel like thanks to a virtual tour. It could create different colored walls, different styles and sizes of furniture and furnishings, or even a brand-new kitchen. This kind of staging enables the potential buyer to see how a space can be made more attractive with some investment. Virtual staging saves on time and cost, it is more flexible, and it can increase online engagement, therefore attracting more showings. The disadvantage is that it can set unrealistic expectations for the buyers, and they may be disappointed when they see the property in person.

Let’s take a look at the key benefits of home staging your property:

Benefits of home staging

Homes sell faster and for a better price

There have been numerous studies showing that a home that has been professionally styled sells at a higher price and more quickly. It’s difficult to say up exactly how much value is added to a property when styled but, dependent on the starting price, the number of rooms which have been staged and the items used, it can be as much as €100,000 for luxury properties. It is much more likely that sellers will at least get their asking price. When a home has been given a make-over with good quality furniture and furnishings, it lifts its perceived value. If a home has been on the market for a long time, potential buyers may assume that there is something wrong with it. To all this, if you still need tips and advice, you can count on us as we are a real estate agency in Barcelona, experts in local real estate markets and professionals in the luxury housing sector.

Home Staging generates more visits

Regardless of the state of the current market, beautiful photography always lures more people in. Even the best photographers can only capture what’s in front of him or her, and a professional Property Stylist will know exactly which angles and colors make photos stand out and which ones will then translate into more inquiries. The more visits your property has, the more likely it will sell for the price you want and within the timeframe you had in mind.

Home Staging makes it easier for a potential buyer to visualize the property as their home

One of the key tasks that a Home Staging company will do is to depersonalize your property. You need to remove all personal items such as family photos or specific artwork so that potential buyers can imagine themselves living in their new home. Furniture and furnishings need to be stylish but neutral, so buyers visualize being able to put their ‘stamp’ on their new property.

Home Staging highlights the positives and diminishes the negatives

Not every room has to be home staged. It’s generally recommended to style the living room, the dining room and the kitchen as these are the rooms which tend to have most impact and often have a ‘wow’ factor. There are many tricks to make a room look more spacious for example such as lightening the color on the walls, exposing more floor space and letting in more natural light. A Property Stylist will look at your house with fresh eyes. As they are walking through, they can picture where the buyer’s gaze will go and will also note which features to highlight and which ones to draw the attention away from. If you’ve been living in your home for a few years, this may be difficult to pull off on your own, as you get used to seeing your home a certain way. You may completely overlook the chipping paint, for example, but prospective buyers may see it all, adding up the renovation costs in their mind.

Is it better to stage a house or leave it empty?

“Another big mistake we often see is in new or renovated properties, where developers and investors/flippers try to sell their properties vacant. They just assume that being brand new is enough to sell. Empty properties don’t appeal to the buyer.  There’s no emotional connection with empty rooms and blank walls, they all look the same to them so empty listings tend to stay on the market for longer periods and that puts them at higher risk of frequent price reductions” adds Monica Renau.

You can declutter and start to pack ready to move on

Moving home can be a drawn out process, but if you use your time effectively during the sales process, you can avoid any last minute packing. By staging your home, your job will be easier when it is the time comes to move as the process of home staging includes decluttering, packing and removing any personal items.

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Home staging alleviates the stress of selling

Selling your home is one of life’s most stressful activities, so anything that can diminish that experience should be welcomed! Having someone take control and help you with the sales process will lighten the load and hopefully bring you to where you want to be more quickly.

If you decide not to use a Home Staging company, there are always things that a seller can do to improve the look and feel of your property, such as:

– Declutter and depersonalize. Get some storage boxes and throw in the things you don’t need. Even better-throw them away, recycle them or donate to charity.

– Give the walls a lick of paint. Brightening up a room by applying a fresh coat of paint is a great quick fix. Keep colors neutral and/or warm.

– Tidy up the garden or terrace area. The outside space should never be overlooked, as this is often the first impression a prospective buyer gets of their potential new home. Discard any wilting plants and empty pots, and replace with healthy plants and flowers. Pressure hose the driveway and repaint the front door.

Is it worth the money to stage a home?

In regard to Barcelona home staging prices, Monica Renau points out that every property is unique and so each home staging solution is different. “We need to see and study the property to be able to provide the best staging solution and calculate its cost. As a mere orientation, a full staging can range between 1% and 2% of the property selling price depending on several factors such as the size and state of the property, the selling price, the amount of furniture needed and its quality etc. It’s important to bear in mind that the first price reduction is always much higher than the cost of staging, and it is precisely home staging that can prevent price reductions. Often, not staging the property can be a very expensive mistake”.