Expert advice on how to get the best price for your home

For years, there has been an established course of action for people wanting to sell their home: call an estate agent, receive a valuation, get pictures on the agent’s website and hope a potential buyer sees the listing.

But a woman from Forton is hoping to shake up the market to bring vendors and agents higher prices and quicker sales.

Jayne Babester has used her background in psychology and her passion for interior design to launch a home staging business which aims to take the stress out of selling a home.

‘There is a massive need for home staging and yet not many people know about it,’ she says. ‘This is already huge in America and people are starting to catch on over here now.

‘Very few estate agents use it and some don’t want their clients to know about it – they just want to get properties on the market quickly, even though properties that have been home staged tend to sell sooner, and attract higher prices.

‘We offer a service to people who want to sell their home and also to investment properties and property developers. Properties that have been staged attract better tenants and get better valuations.

‘An estate agent will take pictures and put them online – and they’ll show the home as it is, not as a potential buyer wants to see it. What we do is about selling a lifestyle, a dream. The people looking to buy have a vision of their future and we use interior design and psychology to create a stage where most potential buyers will want to see themselves living.’

Jayne, who works with her partner, sons and sons’ partners, will host an event at Lancaster Golf Club on February 12 to explain the benefits of home staging to estate agents and property developers.

‘We advise private sellers and we work with people who have empty properties and stage them to show their potential,’ Jayne adds. ‘We take furniture and accessories and fix any obvious DIY issues then we take professional photographs. They rent the furniture and staging for an initial six weeks and he estate agent does the rest. Then we go in and remove the furniture.

‘The blend of my background in psychology and interior design is perfect for my career in home staging; I bring a trained eye to my projects and using my understanding of design, buyer psychology and current market trends, I can transform a property into a buyer’s dream home.

‘Home staging is much more than using furniture and accessories to make a house look better, it is strategic and creative process designed to showcase a property in its best light. The end goal is to make the property appeal to the most potential buyers possible – creating more viewings and higher prices.

‘Staged homes sell on average three times faster and for 8-10 per cent more than unstaged homes,’ Jayne says. ‘I really believe in what we’re doing and I think it can make a huge difference to a lot of people.

‘I think this will change the way people sell homes and I want to see it working for everyone – if it’s done right, there’s no loser, everyone benefits. There is some upfront cost, but there are financial benefits in the long term.’

JAYNE’S TIPS FOR SELLERS

Stage your home before a valuation and concentrate on the most important rooms – the master bedroom, kitchen and living room.

Think who is likely to visit and stage the house accordingly – highlight the aspects they’ll be looking for.

Rooms look smaller with no furniture in them and most people cannot envisage an empty space

Remove clutter, ornaments, photographs, pack them away to make rooms look bigger. Keep cupboards tidy – people look for storage so the more space you can show you have, the better.

Lose bright colours from walls, but use pops of colour with accessories.

Give every room a purpose and stage it to its full potential. In big rooms, create clearly defined spaces and make it obvious what they are used for.

Make sure it’s all clean and there are no obvious DIY issues.

homeinteriorsbyjayne.co.uk