Home Selling in Halifax: The 5 Main Ingredients for a Successful Sale

Home selling in Halifax or anywhere can be a daunting task.  With the right information and the right tools, sellers will have what they need to create a successful selling experience.

Below are the five key elements sellers should consider for home selling in Halifax:

1.      Location

Unquestionably a major factor of property value; the pricing of your home must reflect its location. A home staging professional can guide you on how to ensure that the property conforms well to its neighborhood, and presents the best first impression for a drive-by or online introduction.

2.      Market conditions

Interest rates, competition and the economy all make up and influence the market when you sell your home.  Whether you are selling during a buyers market or a sellers market, and whether you are the only property for sale in your neighborhood or one of many, properly preparing your home will ensure that you achieve the top of your price range and a faster sale. Home staging will immediately give your property a marketing edge in any market.

3.      Condition of the property

General maintenance and repair of a property is crucial in order to obtain the highest value when selling. The pricing of your property must reflect its condition. A professional stager can guide you on what maintenance items and upgrading should be done on your home in order to maximize its value to buyers.

4.      Presentation of the property

How a property is shown will affect the perceived value of that property. Professional home staging, whether the home is lived in or has been vacated, has been shown to result in faster sales and higher sale prices. The minimal cost of Staging will be more than outweighed by the increase in equity achieved.

5.      Pricing

The most important factor of all, setting the right asking price for your home is critical to achieving the best terms and price. Price is determined in part by all the other ingredients listed here, most of which are under your control to adjust up or down.

When all of the ingredients of home selling in Halifax are in agreement, you will have a successful, speedy sale. If any one of these is out of line, the process will be slowed and the sale price will be compromised. Consult your REALTOR and home stager for more information.

~Melanie Orr is the owner and operator of Interiors Working For You which provides full staging and redecorating services. 

Halifax Home Staging: "All the World's a Stage"

I wanted to share this great article written by Les Walker, a special features writer with the Chronicle Herald.  Enjoy!

All the world’s a stage

By Les Walker

Special Features Writer

All the world’s a stage, a lasting commentary by William Shakespeare, remains as true today, however, perhaps not quite in the original concept coined by the master.

Melanie Orr has used the staging adage to help homeowners ‘dress’ a property in order to “sell their home up to three times faster, and add three to ten per cent to the sale price. And, if the home is vacant, staging” she says, “adds warmth, character and marketability. A vacant property, left untouched, can devaluate as much as 30 per cent. Staging helps all properties present a welcoming, well-cared-for look that appeals to potential purchasers.”

Orr knows of what she speaks. Trained in design and with 15 years experience as a REALTOR®, she added Accredited Staging Professional™ (ASP) and Canadian Staging Professional™ (CSP) to her credentials. Two years ago she opened Interiors Working For You in Halifax, offering Halifax home staging, redesign and organizing services.

Like many marketing ideas, staging- protecting the equity in your home- was born in California, moved north to Western Canada and Ontario, then spread recently to the East Coast. Orr was among the first to offer professional Staging services in Metro Halifax to home and condo owners and the thriving real estate market. What is Staging?

“It’s decluttering, de-personalizing, rearranging, addressing colours, creating focal points, ensuring good flow, and showcasing, using cost effective solutions. In short it is enhancing space, inside and out, to present your property in the very best way; in a way that would make you, as a shopper, eager to buy.”

The average buyer in Canada, she says, is 32, the average home seller is 57.

“The 32 year old is typically very busy, cash poor, mortgage-rich, unskilled at home repairs. They are looking for a ‘toothbrush house.’ They want to plunk in their toothbrush, and start enjoying their home immediately. They want to be ‘instantly happy’.”

Speaking of instant, Orr cautions, as an experienced REALTOR®, “most buyers spend a mere two to five seconds on the ‘first impression’. That incredibly brief curbside view can mean the difference between coming in, and moving on.’

Staging, says Orr, is effective because “a Staged home addresses anything a potential buyer may view as a negative. As an accredited Stager, I offer a flexible service to meet the needs of the homeowner. Depending on their needs, timeframe and budget, the changes I suggest may be followed up by the client, by me, or I can call on an experienced support team to assist.”

Orr will provide information for prospective sellers at the Home Stagers Atlantic Accredited Professionals booth at the home show, along with fellow stagers Annette Bourque, Mina Crandall, Eileen Crowley Couse and Colette Robicheau. Homeowners planning to sell their home or condo this spring might well turn to these professionals for advice on how best to ‘set the stage’ for prospective buyers.

Printed in the Chronicle Herald Thursday March 30, 2006.

~For more information on Halifax home staging visit: http://www.interiorsworking.com.

Home Staging in Halifax: Understanding the Basics

With so many buyers in the HRM searching for the “perfect” home to fit their dreams, sellers must do something to set their homes apart from others so they will sell quickly and for their asking price.  Home staging in Halifax can be the answer that sellers are looking for.

Here are some things to consider when searching for a home stager and starting the home staging process.

First, unlike what many television programs depict, home staging in Halifax can be a very affordable process, and it typically increases the selling price of a house significantly.  In fact, studies have shown that professional staging adds between three to 10 percent to the asking price of their homes after staging.

Home staging also decreases selling time so that instead of waiting over 90 days to accept an offer, many sellers are accepting offers that meet or exceed their asking prices within a few short weeks.  Typically you can sell your home three times faster by using the process of home staging.

Contradictory to the nasty and judgmental home stagers often depicted on television, sellers can find certified professionals that offer home staging in Halifax and who are non-judgmental and respectful of all types of people and all types of living.

As you begin to consider the process of home staging in Halifax, remember that your home stager is there to serve you.  Choose someone you are comfortable with and who respects your home for what it is: the dreams of your past and the dreams of your buyer’s future.

 Melanie Orr is the owner and operator of Interiors Working For You which provides full staging and redecorating services. Melanie has a background in real estate and two designations in staging, the Accredited Staging Professional (ASP) and the Canadian Staging Professional (CSP). Please visit www.interiorsworking.com for more information on Home Staging in Halifax, or call Melanie at 902-223-3237.