Edmonton Home Staging is Gaining Popularity

Home staging in Edmonton is a relatively new trend but it is rapidly gaining popularity in the turbulent market that Edmonton has been experiencing the past few years. Understanding the real estate market in Edmonton will help you better understand why home staging is becoming a necessity to sell your home for top dollar in the shortest time frame. In 2006 Edmonton experienced an unprecedented housing boom that drove the average price of a single family dwelling up by 52%. As the market heated up panic started setting in amongst buyers and houses were selling the same day they were listed for upwards of 20% over the list price. During this time any property that was listed at a reasonable price was being snatched up within days. The market was hot, everyone was optimistic and it seemed like the good times would never end.

The hot real estate market continued through 2007 and into the spring of 2008 but by summer 2008 people were singing a much different tune. The impact of the U.S. sub-prime mortgage crisis was sending ripples through the global economy and Western Canada was finally starting to feel the waves. Oil was down in price, unemployment was on the rise and the housing market was colder than an Edmonton Winter. MLS listings were at an all time high, the average days on market had risen to over six weeks and prices were on a steep decline.

With the change in the climate of the housing market being evident, it started becoming apparent to home sellers and real estate agents that it was no longer acceptable to just throw a listing on the MLS and wait for the multiple over-list offers to roll in. No, now if you wanted your listing to sell you had to make it stand out from the thousands of other listings that were getting perspective buyer's attention.

The solution for these agents and their clients was home staging. Edmonton has typically been viewed as a "blue-collar" city so the concept of selling a lifestyle has been a little difficult for some people to grasp. Never the less, home staging in Edmonton is becoming more and more popular and the number of home staging companies is on the rise. The reason for this is that despite Edmonton's reputation as an industrial "oil town" consumers are still familiar with decorating and design trends and they want a home that they feel proud of.

The impact that professional home staging has on a property is seen primarily by the number of showings that a property has within the first week of being listed. The reason for a much higher number of showings is because of the quality of the marketing photo's on the MLS. Real estate agents who are working with buyers make a commission when their client buys a home. They know that taking their client to a home that looks appealing is much more likely to result in their clients purchasing and ultimately to them receiving a commission. A house that presents poorly in the marketing photos will most likely be filtered out by the buyer's agent before a perspective buyer ever sets foot in the home.

Buying and selling a home are two of the biggest decisions that a family will ever make. When it comes time to sell everyone wants their home to sell quickly and for top dollar. To make this happen the services of a professional home stager are crucial. Better marketing photo's lead to more viewings which translates into a quicker sale. Home sellers that have hired professional home stagers have been experiencing this for many years in other parts of Canada and in the United States. The market conditions have finally set the stage for Edmonton home staging to really take off. If you are looking to sell a home in Edmonton please contact Refresh Home Staging and Redesign for all your Edmonton home staging needs and let us reveal your home's hidden appeal.