Staging FAQs: Why Can't Buyers Just Use Their Immagination?

Welcome back to FAQs, an on-going series that answers the questions I hear most, in 400 words or less.

This question comes up whenever a seller does not like, or does not want to do what I recommend to help get their house sold.

It is probably the quickest and easiest to answer.

Ready?

Buyers DON'T use their imagination largely because they CAN'T use their imagination.

Visualizing spacial potential, carrying colors in your head, being able to project change onto a static space is like being able to ice skate, do math, or having freckles: it is a gift, something you are born with.

Like any of the above, it doesn't make you an inherently better person, it just is-or isn't.

Studies vary, but it's estimated that less than 5 percent of the population can imagine spacial change. About half  the total number of left-handers (10 percent of the population), those in this world born with blue eyes, or men who are colorblind (both 7 to 8 percent). Or almost the same number of people born with extra ribs (I know, that's weird, right?) 

Real Estate is all about numbers, and buyers have a lot to think about. They also have a lot of choices.

Bottom line if you are putting off making your house look its best, believing that buyers should be able to use their imagination, statistically you are putting 95 percent of the population off in the first pass through.  

This is before you subtract the buyers who are stressed or distracted by the whole process, not serious buyers, or financially unable to buy.

So seriously tell me again, why don't you want to paint?

Marie Graham is an Interior Decorator, Home Stager and owner of The Refreshed Home. Come to her Free Home Staging Workshop this Monday, July 9th at the Mamaroneck Library, or contact her directly at 914.607.2895