Not everybody knows the meaning of the real estate term “home staging”. However, in Spain this practice is carried out more and more. Some time ago, we wrote in this blog about home staging, and in that article we pointed out that this real estate technique consists of taking care of and improving the aspect of a house which is going to be put up for sale. The writer Gustave Flaubert coined a phrase: God is in the details. With this, Flaubert wanted to stress the importance of paying attention to seemingly trivial things.

Years later, the great German architect Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe endorsed the phrase to claim that things which may at first strike us as unimportant in an architectural space, can end up being unique and differential. This way of understanding architecture can be extrapolated to interior decoration and therefore, to a home. This kind of thinking perfectly defines the home staging philosophy, which is no more, no less than taking care of every single detail.

ARE YOU GOING TO SELL YOUR HOUSE? IF SO, ASK YOURSELF SOME QUESTIONS

Occasionally, a house takes longer than expected in being sold. If this is the case, a simple question can be the key to sell it: am I doing everything within my power to make the house look awesome? This is what home staging is about.

Home staging deals very carefully with all the details of the house and improves them so as to make it as attractive as possible. As a matter of fact, it is very logical and natural to enhance the appearance of the product you wish to sell in order to make a better deal. Sometimes, you only have to ask yourself the appropriate questions to be positioned on the right track. Are the room colours the most advantageous of all? Are the rooms cosy and do they give a feeling of being tidy and shipshape as well as a sensation of spaciousness? Am I taking as much advantage as possible of the light and brightness of my house? Home staging brings all these matters to the table. In the United States, everybody is accustomed to this real estate technique as it has been used for more than thirty years.

We have been in touch with real estate professional photographers and they have told us with astonishment, that some clients had asked them to take pictures of houses which were untidy and even dirty. It is said that when a buyer views a house, the first minute is crucial. There is a phrase which says there is only one opportunity to make a good first impression, and this is decisive regarding real estate. Home staging goes through each millimetre of every aspect of the house so as to create an excellent impression.

THE OPINION OF AN EXPERT

Barb Schwarz is considered to be the inventor of home staging. This North American lady has spent decades improving the aspect of the houses she wishes to sell and thus, making each detail perfect. Due to this, she has sold more than 5.000 houses, and these figures speak for themselves. Barb emphasizes the Three C´S: the top Three C´S are: clean, clutter free and colour. Barb Schwarz explains it:

We conclude by saying that the work carried out by Barb and her colleagues have influenced Spanish real estate in such a way that , at present, there are more than a hundred companies dedicated to home staging.

Work done by: Ana Petra Morillón and Jorge Borondo