“Staging” A Home Vs. Buyer’s Psychology

Two Local Realtors Hire a Ph.D.

By Natalie Reichman and Ninkey Dalton Special to the Palisadian-Post We’ve all heard the news, read the newspapers and listened to the radio, and it’s the topic of conversations at cocktail parties: the changing market that we have entered in real estate for both buyers and sellers. Right here on the Westside and throughout America, lenders are taking a stance with potential buyers by tightening their criteria, and sellers are feeling the effects too–a smaller qualified buyer pool and larger down payments. Sellers are looking for ways to increase the desirability of their property and we’ve been able to guide them in taking a more objective viewpoint. It’s not enough to make sure the home is neat and tidy, with lovely furnishings. The home must have ‘that certain something’ that appeals to buyers and draws them in, and this requires a solid consumer-oriented plan that shows off the best aspects of the home while minimizing the drawbacks. As agents with Prudential California Realty in Pacific Palisades, we begin by seeing the house as a piece of merchandise, a product that needs to have a carefully constructed campaign to prepare for sale and to demonstrate the strengths of the property at the buyer’s first viewing. First, we analyze what currently exists in the home and make recommendations to our client about what should be eliminated, tidied, repainted, replanted, and reduced. At this point we bring in another member of our team, Julie Manz of Julie Manz Design, who has her doctorate in consumer psychology and certification in interior design. She specializes in marrying the art of good interior design with the science of human decision-making and consumer behavior. Together with the homeowner we carefully examine the house and grounds in its entirety to get a complete visual picture from the point of view of the consumer/buyer. We discuss the strengths and challenges of the property and devise a plan that can involve many options–from complete staging or partial staging to revising the current placement of specific furnishings. The goal of successful staging is harmonizing the interior of a home to secure an overwhelmingly positive response from potential buyers. This means combining various elements of style, good design principles and, most importantly, adding relevant consumer psychology to the equation. The home must have that certain something that appeals to buyers and draws them in. More than just lovely furnishings, a solid consumer-oriented plan must show off the best aspects while minimizing the drawbacks. There are no problem homes, just challenges waiting for solutions. Designing a home with the necessary elements to appeal to buyers is quite different from designing a home for individual clients. The first is an exercise in highly targeted mass marketing; the latter is an effort to create a living environment tailored to the needs of just one family. As agents, our objective is to mass-market a home to appeal to a wide audience with many varied tastes. One of our clients in Pacific Palisades had his home on the market for three months with no sale, even though the price had been reduced and continuous feedback from agents and buyers referred to the Spanish tile floors that were covered by luxurious and interesting rugs. In addition, some items were out of scale for the size of the rooms in which they were placed–either too large, too small or too many. We called in Julie to evaluate the situation. As soon as she came into the house, she immediately pinpointed a design conflict as we assessed the situation. She felt that the beautiful Spanish tile floors were in direct conflict with the carpets, giving the feeling there was something to hide. Her remedy was to remove the current carpets and neutralize the floors by using natural woven materials that complemented rather than covered the beauty of the tiles. She pointed out that the floors needed to be presented as an upgrade and a highly desirable design element, not an obstacle. Subsequently, the home sold within three weeks for a higher price. While the owners were not able to replace the floors, we were now able to assist buyers in seeing how they might be able to envision their furniture in this situation. Given the tightening criteria for loans, shifting home prices, the confusion of buyers, and sometimes the cloudy perception of sellers, the professional real estate agent is challenged to help, advise and guide both sellers and buyers on more complex levels than ever before. Our use of a consumer psychologist has proven to be an invaluable addition as we strive to sell a house at the best price in the shortest period of time. (Natalie Reichman and Ninkey Dalton work in the 881 Alma Real building and can be reached at (310) 230-3714. Julie Manz, Ph.D., of Julie Manz Design can be reached at (310) 383-8138.)