Would You Like to Sell Your Home Quickly? Decorate it!

The time had come to abandon her old apartment and go more to the West, towards Springfield, her career had changed and Saint Louis (Missouri) was no longer among her plans. Her current partner had insisted «for which Springfield? If you want to change of company is fine, but why so far?», but for Luisa, arrived from Wayne (New Jersey) and whose parents were Galician and New Yorker, sounded funny the three hours of journey between the cities. However, she acknowledged that the change of scenery was urgent not only for the work, Saint Louis was too large, she was suffocated by its more than two million residents, in Springfield would be as in her home, with only 175,000 inhabitants. After a year and a half in the city it was time to climb a ladder and find a better place in the world (at least for her).

The problem was the apartment she had bought, urged her to sell. She had read in various magazines that the fastest form and most effective of sale a property was to do something called Home Staging, a modality that had already been used by artists such as Katy Perry, Brad Pitt and Scarlett Johansson. Basically consist in decorate the home prior to the sale, so that the future buyer imagines during the visit as would be to live there (the good ideas tend to be simples).

This type of Real Estate Marketing was born in United States in the 1970s, in her favorite luxury magazine (The Luxonomist), Luisa had read that in Spain it had not arrived until the 21st century, from the hands of the famous crisis. «But has come for to stay», wrote the always positive editor of the article, «proof of this are the companies founded with this philosophy of selling, as the company of Sophie Lebhard, Casas en Escena (houses in scene), created together to Claire Duflos in the year 2010″, continued, for, then ask a few questions to the entrepreneur:

The Luxonomist: What is Home Staging or decorative Marketing? How did you get to work in this?
Sophie Lebhard: It is a way to treat a flat as a product, i.e. to make it stand out from the competition and attract the eye of the buyer, we have to take care our packaging. Decorate to sell or rent always thinking the end consumer and showing all the potential of the home thanks to an adapted decoration.

TL: Have the customers understood the philosophy for sale of Home Staging? the Spanish market adapt with ease or difficulty to this method of sale?
SL: Home Staging market is divided into two branches: the consumers and the real estate professionals. In the first case, the individual is increasingly interested in this service that allows to accelerate the sale of the real estate asset through an investment that will recover at the time of selling and on the other hand are the professionals. Casas en Escena has 6 years specializing in floors pilots because it is the best showcase that we can teach. Real estate developers, banks, brokers and agents see it as a great opportunity to attract the customer and provoke a love at first sight for housing.

TL: Which population sector (in terms of age or economic status) is that most demand your work?
SL: The vast majority of our works are flats pilots of new construction on the outskirts of the major cities of Spain but also we do luxury promotion of in places of sea as Marbella. The idea is to adapt to the end customer.

TL: You work in various parts of the national territory… are there significant differences between clients and their tastes?
SL: Yes, it is curious and more fun! We do not use the same colors if we are in Seville or Galicia. In fact, not repeat never exactly the same decoration because many factors come into play: the target itself, the location or the floor price. Over the years we have assembled floors pilots in Madrid, Barcelona, Vigo, Oviedo, Valencia, Murcia, Valladolid, Malaga, Tenerife, Gran Canaria… decoration without borders!

TL: Ye are faithful to the merchants that supply your or are looking for developments in other areas?
SL: Yes, we are faithful to our suppliers because they offer us the possibility to deliver quickly. We have an important reactivity thanks to the experience we have accumulated and we know the rush to sell or rent of our customers. We provide always a margin of time and budget to purchase details for the area where we are because we think it is important to work with the local commerce. For the rest we have 4 basic suppliers.

TL: Are the customers increasingly demanding or are they guided by professionals?
SL: We have sort of keep our customers since years. Now, there is a trust and leave us freer for decorate.

TL: Has it been a difficult journey so far? Do you have good expectations for the coming year?
SL: As all the businesses seeking to bring a concept out, the principles were difficult but thanks to the trust of a large Bank, we started to work… and do what we love! We specialize in decorate flats pilots. We also do home staging for persons who want to put their apartments for rent in AirBnB for example.

TL: What will you say to who isn’t yet convinced of using your method of sale?
SL: If it is particular that this method of Home Staging takes almost 50 years in the United States, more than 10 years in France and the figures of these countries show that a good real estate sold much more quickly and without lowering the price after a facelift. If it is professional, that visit our web site and that do not hesitate to request a free quote… without compromise! (Casas en Escena)

TL: what has been your best assignment, the more daring or more special?
SL: Do the best job? We had to make 2 floors pilots, 1 terrace in a roof and 1 entrance hall in a beautiful building in the Centre of Madrid.

At the end of the interview the editor joked with the possibility of obtaining a discount… «that strong, he not lose one opportunity», thought Luisa, more determined than ever to use this method of sale which could «get rid» well of her apartment both in time as in price. So her new life would have one burden less.

Disclosure: The characters that appear in this article, their different personalities and their relationships with each other and with the environment are part of a fiction. The author is not responsible for the views expressed in the article and has no business relationship with any of the companies listed on it.