St. Louis Real Estate - Home Staging - Internet Marketing

St. Louis Home Staging and Marketing Your Home on the Internet…. What’s the Connection???

What’s the Connection???What sells a house? OLD Conventional Wisdom said…Price, Location, and Condition.

But times have changed with the use of the Internet being the primary means and essential part of marketing houses in this country, as well as all over the world. Research notes that over 75% of buyers are looking online for houses before they ever contact a Realtor. Research also notes that the more photos you have of your property and the better the photos, potential buyers are going to stay on your site longer— increasing the possibility that they will call to make an appointment to view your property. In today’s housing market, potential buyers, as well as Realtors are typically going to be looking at photos of your house online FIRST, and then making a decision to see the house in person….or NOT.

So what does marketing your home on the Internet have to do with Home Staging?
What does the quality of the photos of your home on the Internet have to do with Home Staging?
The answer to the above questions: EVERYTHING!

The “quality of the photos of your property” has to do with 3 Significant Factors:

1. GREAT PHOTOGRAPHY, find a highly qualified real estate photographer,
2. WHAT is being photographed, and
3. HOW the areas and special features of a house are presented in the photos.

According to Barb Schwarz, Creator of the Staging Concept and CEO/Founder of stagedhomes.com,
the 3 C’s of Home Staging are:

1. Clean,
2. Clutter-Free, and
3. Color (ie neutralizing color)

Photos of an occupied home for sale will typically not show whether the house is clean…or not; however photos do reflect if rooms are cluttered and photos do reflect the colors within rooms. Cluttered space and personal color and/or color patterns can be very distracting to potential buyers whether they are viewing photos of a house online or viewing the house in person. Great houses can be overlooked by potential buyers seeing it online because the houses have not been put in their BEST POSSIBLE SHOWING APPEARANCE.

In a vacant home for sale, photos of an empty room tell buyers very little about which room it is, in many cases. Photos of empty rooms can present the color of the walls and the flooring, as well as special features; however, in vacant houses, photos of empty rooms do not adequately present the space, size, or function of those rooms. Home Staging Services that bring in furniture and accessories can really impact the way your “vacant” house is presented and viewed in photos, as well as in person.

If you are a home seller or a Realtor with an existing listing, I invite you to take a second look at your Internet marketing photos. Try to look at these photos through the eyes of a potential buyer. Can you see the great fireplace or the hardwood floors in the room among all of the furniture, rugs, and knickknacks? Can you tell which room is being displayed, if the house is vacant? What is the potential buyer seeing…too much color, outdated color or patterns?

STAGING your home is crucial in making the photos of your property more appealing and more inviting to potential buyers. STAGE your home BEFORE it goes on the market to make sure your Internet photos reflect your great house! If your home is already on the market, it is never too late to STAGE your house, take new and better photos, and present it in the BEST POSSIBLE SHOWING APPEARANCE.

STAGING presents your home in the BEST POSSIBLE SHOWING APPEARANCE, whether on Internet marketing sites or as potential buyers walk through.

What sells a house? NEW Conventional Wisdom…Price, Location, Condition, Best Possible Showing Appearance, and Great Internet Marketing!

Need to find an Accredited Staging Professional (ASP) in your area? Want to find out more consumer-related information about Home Staging? I encourage you to visit www.stagedhomes.com, www.westagestlouis.com, or feel free to contact our staging team at homestaging@stlouisrealestatevoice.com.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 3rd, 2008 at 1:18 pm and is filed under For Sellers, Home Staging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Comments »

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1. Hi there! Thanks for the link love, I appreciate it.

   Great post here, nothing is left out.

   Comment by Athol Kay — March 4, 2008 #

2. I think you nailed it on the head. We are still using the NAR pie chart that shows 11% use the internet to find homes, I would love to see an update on that. I’m guessing more like 60%.

   Comment by Sara@KunaCountry — March 9, 2008 #

3. Actually NAR have been saying it’s over 80% for a few years now. Plus that those who use the internet for homes searches, cut their time actually going on showings to just two weeks as opposed to seven weeks average that non-internet users spend.

   Comment by Athol Kay — March 9, 2008 #

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