Buying or Selling Your Home? Hear from the Experts Why Home ...

PART 2

Buying or selling your home can be one of the biggest financial decisions of your life. I sat down with Brandon Ware, real estate broker, founding partner of The Signature Realtor Group and the top sales representative for Private Service Realty Ltd., to ask about the value of home staging.

Brandon has been selling residential real estate in Toronto for the past 9 years and is passionate about his business and helping clients invest with solid market knowledge. His brokerage is located in the heart of King West and during the wee hours of the night and early morning when he?s not working, he loves chilling with his wife, playing Ultimate Frisbee and walking his pup. Brandon works with Phillip Costello of Principle Staging and Duncan Scott of The Scotts Group to enhance the aesthetics of his listings and ensure they sell for premium prices in short periods of time.

Nicola:
OK, so where do I start? Are there any immediate improvements I can make for little to no money on my own?

Brandon:
Yes. What I tell my clients before we bring our stager through is to de-clutter. It costs nothing but your time, and statistically gives you one of the best returns on investment of any changes you could make.? What I normally tell my clients is ?do it once, call me?. Once I go through and take a look at what they?ve done, I tell them to do it again. Not because I?m trying to be mean, only because chances are you can still get rid of another 20-25% the second round.

You want to create the idea that there is more space than what the buyer sees. If they see a walk-in closet that?s jam-packed, they?re going to assume there isn?t a lot of space. If they see nicely pressed shirts, lined in a row, colour-coordinated with ample space between shirts, they too will envision their stuff in the same beautiful, organized manner. It doesn?t cost any money, and it?s easy to do.

A step up from de-cluttering is spending a little money on curb appeal. Again, think about what you would want to see. Freshly cut grass, nicely trimmed edges, flowers. You?d like to see things full of life. These small landscaping improvements can have a potential average return of up to 250%. Curb appeal is so important because people like to feel proud of the home that they own so they want the part that everyone can see to look great.

A step up from landscaping is painting, which can still be fairly low-cost. Always go with neutral colours and tones because you want to provide finishes that will appeal to the masses. It?s important to understand that the return on investment of any of these changes can be very dependent on the design choices you make. If you choose a very specific colour, a very specific design, you actually may eliminate certain buyers from the table. If I don?t see the value in that fresh coat of paint I may assume that it?s only worth $1000 as opposed to the $3000 that you spent.

So it is very important to think about the design choices you?re making. When you get into more extensive changes this is where a professional stager can be critically valuable to ensure you?re making the right changes to maximize the return on your investment.

Nicola:
You often hear that it?s a good idea to fill the home with smells of freshly brewed coffee or baked bread before a home showing. Does it make a real difference or do potential buyers find it clich??

Brandon:
It?s funny that you mention that because I have heard everything. Peanuts, cinnamon, fresh cookies, fresh bread, I?ve heard so many different things thrown out there and people trying to describe the psychology behind each smell. I think the best piece of advice that I could give somebody is less is more. You don?t want smells or sounds to be overpowering because it leads people to assume that you?re trying to cover something like pet odours or the noise of traffic.

Nicola:
So how?do?you hide stuff like pet odours for example, odours that get into the fabric and stay there?

Brandon:
That?s a tough one because the owner often doesn?t notice the smell. For lingering odours like that a deep steam clean is always worth the investment, as well as airing things out on a great day. Wash things and add a bit of lemon scented spray, but again, nothing that overpowers.

SOLD: Two-storey, 1353 sq ft loft in King West

PART 1 PART 3?

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