Best On Show

If you want to sell your home quickly, presenting it in the best possible light is the way to go.

- Diana Wemyss

It can take months, even years to sell your home and during that time expenses such as bonds, rates and maintenance all add up. One of the latest ways to ensure a speedy sale is home staging, which is basically presenting your home so that it appeals to more buyers.

Liesa Jossel of Home Stagers in Cape Town has staged homes valued from R2 million to R27 million. “People buy with their eyes and their hearts, not their heads,” she explains. “They first look for homes online to get a feel for those they want to view. Buyers often skip over empty properties to more visually appealing ones and if your home looks messy or dark, they’ll look at those that are lighter and better kept.”

The key to home staging is to present the property in a way that appeals to the greatest number of people. “Include emotional clues that encourage buyers to imagine themselves dropping their keys at the front door, entertaining in the kitchen and their kids lying in front of the fireplace,” she say

There are two kinds of staging: empty and occupied. “When presenting an empty house, the stager chooses all aspects of the decor including the furniture, art and plants to suit the target market, which could be young professional couples, families or downsizers, and it’s done in a matter of days,” explains Liesa.