You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover – but buyers can and do judge a property by its presentation. With property styling, sellers can rise above the competition and negotiate the best possible profit.

In a digital age where buyers generally first view a potential new home or investment online, your property obviously needs to make a strong visual first impression.

As the seller, you want the property you are aiming to offload to look its very best, to appeal to as many potential buyers as possible.

Think of your home as a model. Professional models who sell products typically require some help to look as good as they do on promotional material: hair, makeup, styling, good lighting. The same applies to your real estate asset – and this is where property styling comes in.

“Property styling involves elements of maintenance and styling, including furniture and accessory installation, to present your property at its best before the property goes to the market,” explains Naomi Findlay, renovation expert and founder of the International Institute of Home Styling.

“It is not interior design, and it is not full scale renovating for wealth or house flipping. It is all about return on investment. Data collected from a leading Australian home staging company illustrated that during 2016, for every $1 invested in property staging, the property owner received a return of $20 on average.”

In fact, it’s estimated that staged properties boost sales prices by an average of 10%. So just how does property styling deliver that kind of benefit – and how can you incorporate styling into your property investment?

To read all about the benefits of property styling, including a case study where an owner sold their property for $500k above reserve after strategic styling, pick up the September 2019 edition of Your Investment Property magazine.

On sale at news-agents and Coles, from the 1st to 29th August 2019

- or download the magazine now.