The way real estate transactions take place has changed dramatically over the years. What was once a fairly straightforward process involving in-person meetings and actual home inspections with real estate selling agents has largely become a technical and virtual experience. Sydney property stylists tell us that over 90 percent of potential home buyers do their house shopping primarily online.

Long before they ever call a selling agent, today’s buyers have combed the real estate listings online and narrowed the field of possible homes of interest from thousands to just a handful. The homes that sell best look phenomenal online. There is simply no other way to say it. So, how does a homeowner make the leap from yesterday’s game to the one that is played today by selling agents and the buyers? A good first step is to call in a professional home stager.

The amazing photographs you see in television and magazine advertisements – the ones that make you want to actually buy a product – are not accidentally amazing. The images are intricately composed and set up like the stage for a playhouse with special props and specifically chosen components that convey a particular sense of emotion. Set decoration, like home styling, is just as much science as it is art.

Scientists today tell us that when we humans are about to make a buying decision, the part of the brain that is most active and involved in the decision-making is that section where our emotions live. Ninety percent of our buying decisions are controlled by emotion. In other words, if your listed home is not touching the emotions of your buyers, you will likely miss the big sale by as much as 89.9 percent. Emotion sells.

Just as set decorators know which colours and what props can elicit a feeling of happiness and contentment in a play’s audience, so Sydney property stylists carefully choose the furnishings, the art, and the décor in their staged homes to bring about an emotional reaction from buyers. Professional home stagers compose the images that will capture the attention and the feelings of “home” in buyers in order to facilitate the sale of their clients’ house.

Because professional home stagers spend an astonishing amount of resources studying the minds of home buyers, they can use the data they gather to entice the right buyer to the home their clients offer. They use the clues found in surveys, studies, and focus groups to uncover precisely what makes buyers in any group feel happy and secure – two elements of a home sale that were once not even considered as important.

Your home stylists will know what colours are preferred by the segment of buyers who will be most interested in your property. As an example, they also know that people who are lawyers and bankers are probably looking for qualities in a home that empty nesters are not concerned about. In this way, a good stylist can tailor your home’s presentation to match the needs of the buyer. This is reflected in the listing photos which can make or break a sensational sale. With care and attention to detail, home stylists can make the real estate market more responsive to the emotions of the buyer. This attention spells sale in big, bold letters.

Without excellent photos of your home, the listing fades. Without images that evoke emotion, yours will join the properties that sit for months unsold. Without strategic staging, your real estate listing photos may lack the ‘wow factor’ necessary to make your home’s image jump out of the buyer’s computer monitor and beg to be seen in person. If buyers are not motivated to actually come to your home and view the product first-hand, they will probably not buy.

Fortunately, the members of your selling team — the selling agent and your Sydney property stylists — know just how to make your property unforgettable to the people who are most likely to want to buy it. Because they are professionally trained to convert the online lookers into in-person buyers, these people can be your very best partners in the business deal that will probably eclipse all others you undertake. It is a very wise homeowner who brings in the professionals to leverage the visual components that make a lasting impression on potential buyers. A single spectacular online image (or a single uninspired one) can be the deciding factor in the sale of your property. Is it worth a thousand words? Without a doubt.