How To Sell Your Property In Times Of COVID-19
2020 started off amazingly well for a large majority of Home Stagers and property professionals, with a post-election boost and the moods being as positive as they had been since Brexit was announced.
New quotes were coming in, projects were being confirmed and Home Staging was taking off with lots of fantastic case studies of fast sales for us to brag about – all of that in just under 2 months of the New Year.
Who could foresee what was just about to happen? What seemed to be a problem that concerned distant countries has hit us hard and took over the media, our offices, our houses, and, of course, the property market.
As of last week, viewings were already down 50 per cent. However, according to estate agent Jeremy Leaf, that doesn’t necessarily mean that buyers and sellers are not getting on with moving.
People still need to sell their properties and those with recently finished developments or with reasons to sell fast will definitely enter the race to market them as soon as possible – before we make our way to what seems to be an inevitable halt.
As we are all familiar with, selling a property is a process which includes several steps. Due to the social-distancing measures that are now being taken to contain the spread of the virus, one part of this process that is most at risk is the viewings.
Buyers are worried about viewing a property in person, whilst sellers are hesitating to welcome people into their homes.
How does a seller get the buyer’s attention and maximises their chances of selling, one might ask?
Now, more than ever, homeowners, agents and developers will need Home Staging services to make sure their listings stand out and attract the few potential buyers that will be looking for new properties. Sellers have one chance to grab the buyer’s attention and that is through professional images of their beautifully-presented properties.
As stated in the Home Staging Report 2019[1], 100 per cent of developers cited that properties with professional photos get more viewings than properties with poor quality images, and according to PhotoUp[2], buyers spend 60% of their time checking out listing images.
The lockdown caused by coronavirus in China precipitated a 90 per cent drop in property transactions[3] in the country for three weeks, and numbers are still lower than usual for the season.
By Staging a property, its chances of selling are maximised due to the true core of the technique, which entails enhancing the property’s best features aiming towards a faster sell at the highest value possible.
85 per cent of estate agents surveyed by the Home Staging Association UK & Ireland agree that a staged home sells up to three times faster than a non-staged property. This sort of statistic shows that in times like this, when one needs to wow all potential buyers that come along, staging is your best marketing tool, and your best friend.
Want to know more about Home Staging and how to find a professional?
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[1]Home Staging Report 2019: https://www.homestaging.org.uk/assets/custom/HSA-Staging-Report-2019.pdf [2]PhotoUp: https://www.photoup.net/10-interesting-facts-every-real-estate-photographer-should-know/ [3]The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/house-prices/coronavirus-could-crush-property-markets-boris-bounce/ [4]Home Staging Association: https://www.homestaging.org.uk
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