Real estate agents will tell you they no longer sell property. These days, they’re selling a lifestyle.
Perception and emotion play as much a part in the sale of a property as the actual building itself, and increasing numbers of vendors are finding property styling not only helps a home sell, but often helps it sell for well above market value.
Essentially, styling a property means presenting it in its best possible light. ‘‘Presentation is just so important to getting the highest price,’’ says Simon Gowling, a sales executive with Bennison Mackinnon, Armadale.
‘‘It’s crucial,’’ agrees John Catanzariti, director Ray White, Reservoir. In a predominantly owner-occupier market, he says, people are looking for properties to live in.
They want to see how the space can be used; they don’t want to have to work out what to do with an unfurnished empty space.
‘‘People are so much more about visual presentation nowadays and it just captures their mind and becomes far more inviting for a purchaser to buy that particular property if it’s styled correctly. It portrays a lifestyle.’’
Most property stylists are trained interior decorators and designers, meaning they are professionals who, for a modest investment, can make either cosmetic or more substantial changes to your property that can potentially add tens of thousands to the sale price.
As a minimum, property styling can involve basics such as refreshing carpet, window treatment and wall cleaning, plus decluttering. ‘‘Thank God for the garage for that!’’ says interior designer and property stylist Mary Lithari from Chic Abode.
The idea is to create a warm and welcoming atmosphere, she says. Cheap but effective touches such as lighting a few tealight candles, playing music and having fresh flowers help create a desirable ambience for your inspections and can make a big difference to the way the property is perceived.
‘‘Sometimes that’s all it takes,’’ Ms Lithari says. Mr Gowling has an excellent example: last month he sold a property in South Melbourne that the vendor had bought only a year before for about $750,000.
Tenanted at the time, it was ‘‘quite messy and obviously it wasn’t presented very well’’. But when the owner sold it, she had her own immaculate furniture in it and presented it beautifully. The result?
"We sold it for $1,020,000 and to my knowledge hadn’t done anything to it, not even a paint job.Wewere quoting at $780,000-$850,000. The reserve was $850,000.’’
MrGowling says that when the owner bought the property, the market wasn’t that different to today’s. ‘‘The only explanation is the difference between something that is not presented very well to something that is immaculately presented,’’ he says.
‘‘She had quite expensive furniture and I guess it gave an expensive feel and the demographic of buyer that was looking at it could really envisage themselves living there comfortably.’’
That’s the key to effective styling, says interior designer and property stylist Tara Smith of Tara Louise Designs.
Potential buyers need to be able to imagine themselves living in the house and the job of the property stylist is to demonstrate the most effective use of the spaces, with furniture placement, soft furnishings and other decorative changes.
‘‘Not a lot of people can envisage what could be done. They see what’s there and they can’t see past that,’’ she says.
When John and Rosa decided they wanted to sell their house in Macleod, they hired Ms Smith to improve its appeal.With a budget of $15,000, Ms Smith ‘‘transformed’’ their home, say the couple.
She worked with some of their existing furniture and bought new pieces as well, such as a custom-made rug and bar stools, to help link the open-plan living room and kitchen together.
The laminate benchtop in the kitchen was replaced with stone and the red pendant light shades over it were repainted black, to match the black glass splashback she put in over the existing tiles.
Changes were also made in the second living area and bedrooms, all of which made previously disparate rooms function as a cohesive whole.
Describing the result as elegant and luxurious and admitting it was something they could never have achieved on their own, the couple said: ‘‘We were amazed at how much difference was achieved with a very limited budget.’’
In fact, they liked it so much, they changed their mind about selling.
Of course, each property will differ, as will each buyer, but Ms Smith says spending $5000 on a new splashback and stone benchtop in the kitchen, as in the above example, could feasibly add $10,000 to $20,000 to the value of the house.
‘‘The kitchens and bathrooms are the main areas that sell a house, so if you can make them look amazing, you can add so much more value,’’ she says.
In an average size bathroom, new tiles could cost $3000-$5000. ‘‘That’s to take off the ones you’ve got, buy new ones and have them laid,’’ she says.
A cheaper alternative is to repaint them. ‘‘That gives them a big spruce-up, but at minimum cost. It won’t change the shape of the tiles or the size of them or any cracks, but it gives a fresher look.’’
A bigger outlay on such refurbishments can potentially reap bigger rewards. Mr Gowling is selling an apartment in South Yarra that the vendor bought for $580,000 18 months ago.
He has since spent $20,000 doing it up. ‘‘They did an amazing job and we’re quoting $640,000-$690,000, and I currently have buyer interest at the top of that range,’’ he says.
Another option is to clear everything out and hire furniture. Stylist Jo Campbell of Votre Monde says prices can start for one bedroom around $1500; $2500 for two bedrooms and upwards of $3500 to hire furniture for three-bedroom properties.
‘‘First impressions are lasting impressions,’’ she says. ‘‘It’s like looking through a magazine and you look at these beautiful photos and that’s what you aspire to have.’’
DIY Property Styling Tips:
The idea is to create an inviting and comfortable atmosphere so potential buyers will feel like they could enjoy living there. The more people who can imagine it as their home, the higher the price you can achieve.Basic
- Clean up: Wash walls, windows, carpets, floors. Declutter, including inside cupboards. With furniture, sometimes less is more.
- Remove: Personal effects and any rubbish.
- Freshen up: Fresh towels, toilet rolls, soaps. Fresh fruit in the kitchen and flowers throughout.
- Create ambience: Light candles and oil burners; change to warmer light globes; play soft music; have coffee brewing. If it’s cold, heater on; hot, run the air con.
- Update decor: A throw rug over the couch, with a few new scatter cushionsand some new prints on the walls can immediately update a room.
Advanced
- Repaint: Paint walls a neutral colour to give potential buyers a clean blank canvas for them to project images of their own life on to.
- Update: New basin and vanity can transform a bathroom; a new benchtop and splashback can revive a kitchen.
- Lighting: Use it to focus attention on improvements.
- Furniture: If hiring, make sure it works with the house. Furnish with intended buyer in mind; if targeting families, dress one room as a child’s room.
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