Staging your home can give you a marketing edge

First impressions are the key to successfully marketing a home. More homeowners are recognizing this fact and taking action to maximize their home's first-impression appeal.

Home staging is becoming an essential part of a marketing program for residential real estate. This is taking a careful and methodical look at the home from the perspective of a buyer inspecting the property for the first time.

The staging process results in adding, eliminating or rearranging certain elements. Keep in mind that decluttering rooms is an important action. People want to envision rooms with their own furnishings. That's difficult to do when they see too much clutter.

With the rising number of owners taking this action, it is increasingly important to include it in a marketing program. Otherwise, buyers may slip away to other homes that have more appeal.

Home staging can be done by the owner or by an independent contractor. Either way, it can result in a faster sale and a higher price.

"A thorough staging effort can be the leading reason a property sells quickly, and in many cases for a higher asking price. If a property is styled and furnished in good taste it translates into competitive offers and increased demand," it was reported by the National Association of Realtors.

"A staged home also will show better than its competitive properties; more often than not, the cost of staging comes back to a seller many times over in the final sale price. Ultimately, the benefits of marketing a home that has been thoroughly styled and prepared for the broader buying audience outweighs the initial expenses and yields a far greater return."

Q. Considering the number of homeowners who lost their homes in recent years, how many will return to homeownership?

A. Many of those who lost their home have already improved their credit and have purchased another residence. Others are actively planning to purchase a home.

Nearly a decade since the start of the foreclosure crisis, formerly distressed homeowners with restored credit are re-entering the housing market, but damaged credit profiles and lender overlays will greatly restrict the overall share of those eligible to buy, according to research from the National Association of Realtors.

Q. Is the economy expected to grow in coming months?

A. Yes, the economy is expected to gain momentum throughout the spring and reach previously anticipated levels by year-end, according to Fannie Mae's Economic and Strategic Research Group.

While they have adjusted downward first-quarter growth from the prior forecast, the group's full-year 2015 growth projection remains unchanged at 2.8 percent. Risks remain tilted to the downside, however, as consumer spending may be weaker than anticipated and the financial markets are likely to experience some volatility leading up to the Fed's first expected rate hike in the coming months.

Q. Are some homeowners still seriously underwater?

A. RealtyTrac, a source for housing data, recently released its U.S. Home Equity and Underwater Report for the first quarter of 2015.

The report shows that at the end of the first quarter of 2015, 7,341,922 U.S. residential properties were seriously underwater - where the combined loan amount secured by the property is at least 25 percent higher than the property's estimated market value - representing 13.2 percent of all properties with a mortgage.

Q. What do leading analysts predict about the housing market?

A. Solid employment gains, attractive mortgage rates, a growing economy and pent-up demand will help keep the housing market moving forward throughout 2015 and into next year, according to economists who participated in the National Association of Home Builders 2015 Spring Construction Forecast webinar.

"This should be a good year for housing, buoyed by sustained job growth, rising consumer confidence that is back to pre-recession levels and a gradual uptick in household formations," said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. "We expect 2016 to be even better due to a significant amount of pent-up demand and an economy that will be entering a period of reasonable strength and consistency."

• Email Jim Woodard at storyjim@aol.com.

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