When selling your luxury Sarasota home, your primary goal is securing a lucrative transaction. A final sale that doesn't just meet your asking price but potentially exceeds it.
To do so requires positioning your home to stand out amongst a marketplace full of opulent high-end real estate. In fact, from Longboat Key to Siesta Key or in communities such as Lakewood Ranch, little separates one stunning residence from another. So how do you impress buyers enough to entice them into making offers that reflect the property's value?
You do it through staging.
To ensure you get the most from selling an extraordinary Gulf Coast residence, we've gathered top staging tips from interior design experts and the steps to take to prepare your luxury home for sale.
What is staging, and why should you do it?
When selling the nicest, most luxurious home in a highly sought-after neighborhood featuring outstanding amenities close to excellent schools, a lucrative sale is not always easy. This proves especially true in today's tepid market, where sellers still hold an advantage. Still, buyers are increasingly more cautious with their residential investments.
Staging, as part of a larger effort to prep your luxury Sarasota home prior to listing, creates a blank slate for buyers to envision the property as their own. Staging can transform a home beyond the simple act of shifting furniture and updating a few accessories.
For example, staging relatively new high-end construction—a home built within the past five to seven years—gives the house a new sense of purpose and makes it seem like it was built yesterday.
Regardless of the specifics of your listing, staging provides you with marketing flexibility. You can position the property to appeal to many buyers or hone in on the home's unique luxuries to attract a more targeted clientele.
Whatever path you choose, readying your home is an involved process, but it need not be difficult.
The basics of preparing a luxury home for sale
When prepping and staging a home for the market, your overall goal is to create a welcoming space. From primary residences to vacation homes to investment properties, buyers need to visualize a house as their own. One where they can make new memories or grow into a favorite spot they return to again and again.
Even those with financial gains in mind need to feel confident that the property they purchase will help them reach their investment goals.
But before you zero in on the styling that helps distinguish your property for specific buyers, there are three universal steps to employ to get the process going: clean, declutter, and depersonalize.
Cleaning
It may seem a bit elementary, but a clean home is appealing. Even at the top end of the market, discerning buyers don't just expect a space bordering on spotless; they demand it. A critical aspect of cleaning is perception.
Yes, you could do it yourself, but considering the need to polish every practical inch of your home and keep it in immaculate condition, a professional service is money well spent and little time lost.
Decluttering and depersonalization
Arguably one of the more misunderstood aspects of home staging, decluttering and depersonalization is also one of the most emotionally fraught aspects of selling a home.
You may be ready to sell and start a new journey in life, but culling through the memories you made in your current home often leads to underwhelming results in the second stage of listing prep.
Space and storage are at the top of every home buyer's must-have list. For your home to show effectively, it must flow effortlessly from room to room. Countertops should be free of everything but the most essential items—coffee maker in the kitchen, hand soap in the bathrooms.
Store spare blankets and pillows. Organize unsightly areas such as exposed electrical cords, closets, and storage areas, including utility rooms and kitchen pantries, and must be devoid of as much clutter as possible.
When depersonalizing the home—removing family pictures, heirlooms, memorabilia and collections, and folksy touches or the refrigerator art gallery—use it as an opportunity to organize, not commiserate. Emotional as it may be, the goal is to sell as soon as possible. Pack your memories as if they're heading to a better space so as not to delay leaving the old place behind.
Staging a high-end Sarasota property
Staging costs range from $500 to $1,000 per staged room, plus any professional or service fees—design costs, furniture leases, labor, etc. The process can be expensive.
But it's also worth it.
But it's also worth it.
Staging adds value. All other considerations being equal, a clean, well-staged home is far more valuable than one that's not. Staging often generates higher initial offers and more competition for a house than those that skip the staging process. It also helps a home show better, and not just in person.
Trust the professionals
When it's time to stage your luxury home, the absolute best rule to follow is to hire a professional stager. You can often find standout service providers through a trusted realtor.
That said, a few things are worth understanding in the staging process, even as you defer to a professional designer.
Styling dos and don'ts
As much as you, the current homeowner might love the personal style you've created in your home, buyers are bringing their own self-crafted "looks" to the table. It's a noteworthy reason why presenting your home as a clean, elegant canvas in which a new set of owners can paint themselves is so critical.
A few staging styling points to be mindful of:
Aim for a contemporary or modern aesthetic
Clean lines and a minimal approach to furniture and accessories make it easier for the buyer to visualize the home as theirs, even if their specific tastes lie somewhere else.
Let the natural light in wherever and whenever it's possible
Clean your windows, inside and out, and trade out busy or dark, heavy window treatments for those with lighter, more sheer fabrics. Or, if it makes sense, ditch the curtains and blinds altogether. Use that newfound light to your advantage as well. Walls painted in lighter shades and strategically hung mirrors help rooms feel larger.
Invest in a fresh new paint scheme to boost value and broaden appeal
Paint works wonders in recasting a home into a completely new light. Go for an additional touch of elegance with crown molding or baseboards where none previously were.
Update the lighting packages in the kitchen and bathrooms
New lighting sets a positive, welcoming vibe in spaces critical to the success of your listing. New lighting also works in tandem. Consider other rooms too, typically those needing a style boost, such as the dining room, living areas, or dedicated spaces like a dedicated office.
Don't neglect the exterior
Finally, while the inside of a home might seal the deal for a buyer, the property's curb appeal—both front and back—first compels them to take a deeper look.
A trusted real estate partner
Are you seeking a trusted team of real estate professionals to help you position your Southwest Florida home for a lucrative listing? Or are you ready to buy and want guidance on Sarasota's top luxury markets, including homes for sale in Longboat Key or luxury estates in Lakewood Ranch?
Contact The Fox Leiter Team today to start your home-selling or buying journey. Allow the team's experience and expertise to be your guide to Southwest Florida's stellar real estate market.
