FOR LAS VEGAS HOMEOWNERS VIRTUAL STAGING IS A 3RD ALTERNATIVE
If you set your sites on selling your Las Vegas home in short order for the best price, one of the most reliable ways to add to your effort is to introduce effective home staging. If you have the requisite artistic flair and some time to devote to the project, you can try your hand at staging your house yourself. Alternatively, you can turn the project over to a professional Las Vegas staging company. And for quite a while now, there is a third alternative. The importance of good staging is undeniable. It is sometimes called “the gentle art of temporarily redecorating a house”—and it’s a gentle art that’s been found to be an effective adjunct to many a home’s marketing campaign. The National Association of Realtors® research shows that staged homes are on the market for 17 days fewer than comparable non-staged listings (the national average is 14 days vs. 31). Although hiring professional stagers has a cost, it’s often pointed out that it is likely to be less than what the first reduction in selling price would run. Home staging is said to have gotten its first impetus in the early 1970s when a student of theater began working in real estate. The stagecraft approach proved effective and eventually evolved into a professional service that can be offered and many differing levels of involvement—all the way from simply rearranging furniture to emptying a house out and filling it with rented furniture. One of the most common staging precepts for Las Vegas homes is that, since first impressions are so important, it should be completed before MLS photos are taken. That’s where that third staging alternative comes in: it’s strictly for the photos. This is the kind of staging that isn’t even what you might call “real.” It’s virtual. Yes, the age of virtual staging is now well established. When vacant real estate will make for lifeless, uninspiring pictures, a little “advanced 3D rendering technology” can come to the rescue. “Digitally furnish any home so it looks its best…all you need are photos or a floor plan” promises one of the leaders in the field. Owners send in photos of empty (or nearly empty) rooms, and the virtual staging company sends back photos decorated with sofas, wall paintings, draperies, beds, dining room tables, chandeliers, carpeting—any number of décor items that add atmosphere and style to the original. Believe it or not, they really look real! But they aren’t. The argument in favor of this approach is that virtual staging accomplishes what any staging is meant to do: it helps potential buyers imagine how they might choose to decorate a room or household. The price is a fraction of traditional staging (a single room can cost as little as $49), and the turnaround time is a matter of days. The downside is that, whereas the listing photos for a traditionally staged home looks like what prospective buyers experience when they make an in-person visit, the virtually-staged property looks quite different. Unless the buyer has been properly prepared, that could be quite a letdown! Home staging—virtual and otherwise—is just one example of the many tools available to assist today’s Las Vegas home sellers. Give me a call to explore how we can put them to work for you!
HOMEOWNERSHIP NEWS GETS LAS VEGAS READERS ATTENTION
For Las Vegas real estate watchers, it was The Washington Post that came up with the most interesting angle on last week’s most commented-upon real estate headline—which was that across the U.S., home ownership rates had slipped to 1960s levels. CNBC went with the straight numbers (“Home ownership rates drop to 63.4%”); while website Zerohedgedecided on a more attention-grabbing route (“Homeownership Rate Crashes to Lowest Since 1965”). Las Vegas readers whose brows might have been furrowed by Zerohedge’s “rate-crashing” spin could have been relieved somewhat had they fled to sites like Businessinsider, which added, “but may be bottoming” to the sobering news. Yet it was still The Washington Post that made off with the most interesting exposition. Their take was to zero in on the “why” of falling homeownership numbers with: “All the Reasons It’s So Much Harder to Buy a Home Than It Was for Your Parents.” Chief among all the reasons The Post found was voiced by Lawrence Yun, who is the National Association of Realtors®’ chief economist. It is, in a word, affordability. As many Las Vegas listings reflect, the rebound in residential real estate has meant that asking prices have been rising steadily for some time. “We’ve seen a general rise in the purchase market in wealthier areas and densely populated urban areas,” according to one Boston mortgage exec. “Now the recovery has spread to more rural and up-and-coming areas, too.” Since The Post headline promised “All the Reasons,” it didn’t stop at affordability. As another economist is quoted, “sales are hitting record highs, prices are growing…but…there’s a chronic inventory shortage.” And NAR’s Yun agrees with that second reason. “People need to focus on the fact that we have a major housing shortage in this country.” More reasons are “income inequality,” which is another way of citing concerns about home prices rising faster than wages; and “rents are up,” which makes saving for a down payment harder for wage earners. Do all those reasons “it’s so much harder to buy” add up to a coming slump in real estate sales? The jury may be out on that, but the public perception that homeownership is worth pursuing anyway is not. “Most consumers still believe that homeownership is financially worthwhile,” according to The Post, which quotes a 2015 Demand Institute survey. DI found that a full 78% of heads of households agreed—or agreed strongly—that “homeownership is an excellent investment.” I agree whole-heartedly, of course; and whether your next foray into Las Vegas homeownership is as a buyer, seller (or both) the odds are excellent that you do, too. All good reasons to give me a call!
TOP 3 PLUS 1 QUICK SALE TACTICS FOR LAS VEGAS HOMES FOR SALE
Owners of Las Vegas homes for sale each have their own individual goal hierarchy. The bottom line is nearly always at—or close to—the top of the list, like everything people sell. But there can be other considerations that rival fetching the largest amount of cash. Some of the Las Vegas homes that are for sale are adjacent to family members—or long-time neighbors who are just like family—so another wish might be to hand off to a new owner who seems likely to keep the place in good order. More commonly, high among target goals is the wish for a speedy resolution. In fact, for some, personal or professional demands warrant that their homes for sale need to be completed as quickly as possible. Where speed is absolutely the overriding objective, the first tactic is also the one most likely to achieve that goal: Tactic #1: Price it right—right from the start. An asking price that is at or slightly below other comparable Las Vegas homes for sale is all but certain to draw immediate attention, more showings, and garner offers sooner than homes that are pegged at premium price levels. This is true across all price ranges, even at the seven-figure estate level. Those who price their homes for sale at a figure that shows they are ready to move, have good reason to assume that that the Field of Dreams dictum will hold: “they will come!” Tactic #2: Update as needed. Where it is prominent, fresh paint, a new fixture or two, and fresh landscaping touches have a good chance of making any home stand out from the pack. If the asking price is reasonable, the object is to be competitive with other Las Vegas listings. A home that is desirable from a style and condition standpoint should be among those most likely to get the earliest action. Tactic #3: Observe the Three “De’s”—Deep Clean, DeClutter, DePersonalize. These are the steps we hear so often from every informed quarter—the steps that make a home “show ready.” True deep cleaning might well involve professional help. We all know how to clean our homes, but a real pro has special tools (and tricks!) that really make a place shine. Decluttering means storing all those items that we usually have around, but which we really don’t need every day. Depersonalizing means stashing the personal artifacts that would otherwise tag a home as emotionally belonging to someone else—anyone other than the wished-for new owner. These three “De’s” can speed any “home for sale” into a “home that’s sold.” These three tactics are among others that can come into play, but they are arguably the most important where speed is paramount. And there is one more that is vital, too—one that meshes nicely with all the other marketing initiatives: Tactic #4: Call me!
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