Q. I’m having trouble selling my Penthouse apartment; it’s been on the market for six months now and still no offers. The agent is telling me that it has everything a penthouse needs, a water view, high specification and a great location but still nothing. I’ve already reduced the price and am literally stuck as to what to do next. A friend in the States mentioned ‘Home Staging’ as the apartment is unfurnished and she thinks maybe some furniture could help. Do you think this is a good idea and if so do you know of any companies here in the UK that does this?
A. Home Staging is something that has always been very popular in the USA particularly for high end properties, so much so that they are becoming increasingly popular here in the UK also. Agents acting for the seller will bring in specialist home stagers to help sell the property. Basically these companies will rent furniture and accessories as well as provide a bespoke interior design service too, they will deliver unpack and stage the rental furniture and then come back and take it all away when it’s no longer needed. Home staging makes the most of what you have and showcases the property to make it shine. It’s amazing how many buyers have no vision, so when a space is empty they are not able to visualise how furniture might work particularly in unusual spaces and awkward shaped rooms. Experts will turn your once boring empty space into showroom standard; we all know the effect of visiting a new development and taking a trip around the marketing suite has. The price it costs to have this type of service is very small when you compare it with the value of the property. Sometimes we need to invest some money to get our best price. Once the home is staged you can then ask your agent to get new professional photos taken and uploaded to the portals, to a buyer this will look like a brand new instruction to the market and will likely tempt buyers that had previously dismissed the property on line to book a viewing. Remember that packaging is everything, so package your property right and get the results you know you can achieve with a high end property such as this.