« Is the 'real estate apocalypse' here? | Main | Family Fun in Toronto »

Fluffing time for Toronto real estate

The future looks bright for the emerging home staging business

For the last several years selling real estate in Toronto has been easy. Just post the listing on the MLS, wait three days and then consider the offers — most higher than the asking price. But now that the market's changing, things aren't going to be so easy.

Enter home staging. I used to think it was just a fad that would soon die out because in the extreme seller's market that Toronto has been experiencing, fluffing was so unnecessary. But not now. As selling a home becomes harder — and harder — it may come to a point where staging a house is something that is required when it´s time to sell.

Look what happened with "home inspections". Most people today wouldn't think of buying a home without having it inspected first. They want to make sure that the roof doesn't leak, the foundation is solid, the furnace works, and so on. However, there was a time when home inspections were new to the real estate industry and few people took advantage of them when buying. However, as more buyers began to see the benefits of having a home inspection, the demand grew, and now it's become an accepted practice. That's where I see home staging going in the coming buyer's market.

In fact, Debra Gould, Toronto's "Staging Diva", is already seeing this trend in certain neighborhoods in Toronto which certainly wasn't the case five years ago. In neighborhoods like Leaside, Riverdale and the Beach, a good percentage of sellers always stage their homes when they put them on the market. It's something they know they have to do to stand out from the competition. It's become part of the process of selling a home. That will eventually be the case in most locations, especially in major cities such as Toronto.

As more informed homeowners hire Real Estate Stagers and more buyers have the chance to view homes that have been staged, other home sellers will realize they too have to follow the practice. Otherwise their un-staged homes will look even worse by comparison.

You only have to look at prime time television to see further evidence of the design/decorating trend. There was a time when HGTV didn't exist, and even when it first started, it was fringe programming. Only certain kinds of people watched decorating shows, but now everybody watches.

Oprah is always talking about decorating and design. There are home makeover shows on prime time networks and there are thousands of decorating and home improvement magazines. More and more people are becoming aware of the difference it makes when things look good, and they aspire to live the trendy lifestyle they see portrayed in the media.

What does this all mean for the future of home staging? Well, if it's become a sought out service in Toronto's extreme seller's market, it will become mandatory as we shift into a buyer's market.

March 10, 2008 in Selling Toronto Real Estate | Permalink

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c51e453ef00e550f4b8408834

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Fluffing time for Toronto real estate:

Comments

Definitely it is true that real estate market is changing quickly nowadays, but we have no problem with that. Since we've noticed these changes we are trying to be the first and adjust our services permanently in order to fulfill all wishes of customers and take advantage of the existing situation on the market. That is one of the reasons why we offer all kinds of Toronto neighbourhood guide for potential buyers or sellers. I guess that all these changes are problem just for non-innovative companies, which were satisfied with conservative real estate market for ages.

Posted by: Toronto neighbourhoods | Mar 12, 2008 8:01:10 AM

The comments to this entry are closed.