Maximize returns with a professional home stager
Investors should be considering a home stager as part of an investment team, just as they consider real estate agents, accountants and other experts.
Blogger: Imogen Brown, Home Staging Brisbane
Is a home stager part of your property investment team?
As a property investor you probably have a number of people ‘on your team’ such as conveyancers, real estate agents, mortgage providers and builders. Have you considered partnering with a home stager?
The obvious time to call a home stager is when you’re selling your property. If it’s vacant they can stage it with hired furniture, rugs, artwork and accessories. If you’re selling furnished then they can help with room purpose, furniture placement, colours and sourcing and shopping for the accessories that will make the property more inviting. The accessory part really is the difference that makes the difference as it allows your prospective buyers to have an emotional connection to your property and feel that “I could live here” (I've written a previous post about selling once the tenants have moved out.)
A less obvious but equally important time to call your stager is when you are looking for tenants. Sought after properties get the best rents and highest occupancies. A stager can help your property cut through the competition and get on a tenants wish list. If vacant, your stager can give you advice and help with areas such as wall colours, carpets, lighting, kitchen bench tops and handles and upgrading bathrooms. They can also put you in touch with good local suppliers. Only this week I saw a recently painted rental property with bright white walls and blue window trim. A stager can prevent the time and expense of something like this happening.
If you are renting furnished then a stager can help you get clear on your target tenant, crunch the numbers for your furniture budget and can also source and go shopping for items. You might not like this part of the process but I can assure you that stagers love to source and shop, and we don’t mind doing it to budget either! We can then style your property to attract the best tenants.
So google your local home stager or property stylist, have a look at who’s out there and see if you can find a good match for you and your property investment team.
About Imogen Brown
Imogen is a home stager based in Brisbane. She helps sellers prepare and decorate their properties for sale so that they sell quickly, for the best price and with the least stress. She frequently writes about staging principles and ‘how to’ information. She has a background in advertising, business coaching and administration, and has personally had a property that sold within just one day.