#8 Lighting IS Everything

Home Staging Tips and Suggestions by Melinda Potcher

http://MAPConsultants.houzz.com

Yes, I know it seems “a little much” doesn’t it to address lighting when listing your home for sale?  But today’s savvy buyers, (including Millennials) don’t make buying decisions soley on facts and numbers – it is also about the way the house makes them feel.

According to a well known home stager, Julea Joseph, whose quote has been used by NAR (The National Assn. of Realtors); “A staged home may seem like it has furniture that’s fixed in place; but what is going on in the buyer’s mind is a very kinetic process.  With a home that is staged, they see a family – celebrating home.”

So what does that have to do with lighting?  Well, lighting can change how a photo looks, how a room feels, and so on.

Allow me to share an example from my good friend and real estate photographer, Jim Gross;

See how differently each of these rooms “feel” based on the choice of light bulb?  Can you guess which one is which and which one is more desirable?  “A” is the photo on the left, and the light bulbs used are CFLS (energy efficient, compact fluorescents – the “curly” bulbs).  “B” is the photo on the right, and the light bulbs used are “regular” incandescent bulbs.

The preferred lighting choice is B, the incandescent bulb.  It gives a softer warmer light that is more desirable for real estate photographs.

I do encourage homeowners to use as many incandescent bulbs as they are able for MLS photos.  Sometimes that is hard because it seems like everyone has jumped on the energy efficiency bandwagon and converted all of their light bulbs to CFLS.

There are a couple other options as well – LED lights are expensive, energy efficient, but do cast a nice white light.  I’ve also heard them referred to as “jewelry store lighting”.

Another option is to have a professional photographer do the photos of your home for MLS.  Most Professional Real Estate Photographers carry extra lighting with them, so they are able to provide extra lighting for a dark room when needed.

Professional Real Estate Photographers also do “post production” work on the photographs they take to remove shadows, correct colors and enhance lighting.  This is why it is so important to hire a professional photographer to shoot your home.  If lighting is everything and presentation is key a professionally shot home photo is head and shoulders above a cell phone picture, IMO (in my opinion).

I’ll leave you with a final bit of data from the National Association of Realtors 2015 Profile on Home Staging found that 81% of buyers find it easier to visualize a property as a future home when it’s staged. 

Lighting, IMO (in my opinion) is a part of that staging.