By Amelia Cuesta
Editorial Staff El Inmobiliario
SANTO DOMINGO.-Before selling or renting a property, there are many tasks to be done: cleaning, getting rid of old things, giving away what is no longer used, painting, upholstering, sometimes even repairing damage such as a faucet, a baseboard, changing the air conditioner or fixing the kitchen cabinets; all to capture the interest of potential clients.
But we don't have to do it alone. There's a new technique that comes to our aid: home staging, which is responsible for making the property stand out from the rest, accelerating the sale and ensuring that we get the most out of the property's intrinsic value, as architect Karen Troncoso explains.
Certified Home Staging in Spain, the professional has more than 20 years of experience in the real estate market, she comments in an interview with El Inmobiliario, a digital newspaper, regarding the fact that at the end of the year many people embark on the sale of their homes and this technique represents an option to support such plans.
What is Home Staging? It's preparing a property to be sold or rented, making it more attractive to potential buyers. "It consists of a set of tools to improve the property from a transactional, commercial point of view. The goal is to make the client or buyer fall in love with the property within the first 90 seconds of the visit," explains the businesswoman.
It's not a method that's frequently used. Troncoso recounts that, on one occasion, he was presenting his remodeling and renovation services for properties to Marbel Lugo, a leading figure in the Dominican capital's real estate sector, when she remarked, "But what you do in the United States is called home staging." Immediately after this, he began researching everything related to the topic and became certified in Spain with the aim of introducing the concept to the country and dedicating himself to it. This proved easy, as he already applied many of the techniques in his daily life.
"This conceptualization has been around for a while; it was first used as a technique and concept by Barbara Schwarz in the 1970s. At that time, Barbara had a long and important career in theater, and due to a temporary crisis in the sector, she started in the world of real estate. She says that when she saw the condition of the first properties she had to sell, she realized the negative points that hindered the commercial conversion of the transaction due to factors such as visual saturation and furniture.".
For this reason, he talks to his clients to allow him to implement what he learned in the theater for the "presentation" of the property to potential clients, and from there arises the proposal of "staging (Home Staging)".
Between 2008 and 2010, in the midst of the real estate crisis, the movement arrived in Europe with the aim of highlighting some properties over others within the same crisis market and thus directing the attention of the few buyers available in the market, especially reducing to zero possible objections and their handling.
"Its acceptance and success were so great that today, in the United States and Europe, it is difficult to think about selling or renting a property without first performing Home Staging to optimize the potential of the property itself," he adds.
The "staging" aims to elevate the property's conditions before placing it on the market so that it stands out preferentially among similar properties in its range, allowing for a faster conversion of the intention into cash.
For the company FERTROSA, " Home Staging is an added value within the institutional service offer; as a concept and technique, it is one of our differentiating factors within our company's service portfolio," Troncoso emphasizes.
"The way you present the property is one of the main attractions for captivating interested clients, whether for renting or selling. You must take care of the aesthetic presentation of a home, preparing it in a specific way using decorative elements to make it more attractive and thus sell or rent it faster, with the goal of winning over the future owner in the first few minutes of the visit," the interviewee reflects.
But how is this achieved? How is Home Staging?“We begin with an inspection/evaluation of the property, where each and every improvement need is identified to optimize, neutralize, and depersonalize the property. Then, a quantified proposal for implementing structural, technical, and even architectural improvements is presented to the client for approval, and finally, our team proceeds with the execution of the program according to the work schedule,” explains the home stager.
After carrying out this inspection, work begins on the property that is to be sold or rented, taking into account standardization, depersonalization, and neutralization.
- Standardization: deep cleaning of the property, removing excess furniture or adding more if necessary, painting if needed, removing appliances, excessive decorations, among other things. Here, the famous German architect Mies van der Rohe's phrase "less is more" is perfectly apt.
- Depersonalization: removing personal items, religious images, personal effects, family photos.
- Neutralization: Incorporate neutral colors into the property, tones that allow the space to feel brighter and more spacious. Unpleasant odors in kitchens and bathrooms should also be considered. For this, fragrances that awaken the senses are used.
When this model is implemented at the time of sale, there is an opportunity to prepare the property for optimal handling of potential objections from a prospective client, thus achieving the best possible impression of the property from the first visit.
Taking all this into account, you can reduce the time it takes to sell or rent your property, whether you decide to do it yourself or look for the right professional, because from today you already know their name: a homestager.
About Karen Troncoso
A graduate of the Architecture program at Pedro Henríquez Ureña University (UNPHU), where she also completed a diploma in Interior Design and Decoration, she completed a diploma in Sustainable Architecture at UNIBE; she attended the Business Development Program at Barna Management School and is CEO of FERTROSA, a company focused on the purchase, adaptation and sale of real estate that offers services throughout the national territory.
