I showed a bunch of properties out of town (Guelph, Cambridge, Kitchener, Woodstock) this week and I've noticed (well, it's too early to say and I really don't want to try and predict anything) that the number of showings is slightly lower and the number of offers is slightly lower, so this  could be indicative of a slight slow down.  It's really hard to say though. It's like trying to predict an election before the results come in, so I'm not going to do that.  Up until now, however, I haven't seen that - it's been busy, busy, busy, so it could be a change, but it's hard to say.

Last week I sold a condo.  When I met the owners, it was completely vacant, so I brought in my stager and we staged the whole thing, from top to bottom.  Another condo (similar size) but that one was actually slightly better because it had an attached garage (mine was a detached garage) and yet we sold ours for 10% more. The other one was staged, but not nearly as nice, so staging really, really, does work.  Think about it - when you buy a property from a builder, you go to a sales centre and the model homes are  completely decked out in all the staging gear. These companies are worth billions and they've done focus group after focus group to determine if staging works.  Consider this: if you have a vacant property, get it staged because there are two things to think about.  First of all, it doesn't appeal as nicely on line or in person, to the buyer if there isn't anything in it.  And secondly, the buyer sees that the property is vacant, which means that the seller may need to close soon, which means that they need the money - so offers may come in slightly lower. 

So, when it comes to staging, take my advice: get your home staged!  Don't forget that "real" staging costs money. You have to hire movers to move things in, movers to move things out.  Stagers to actually put things on the wall, stagers to take things off the walls. Stagers to place accessories all over the place and pick the right products for the staging.  It's not cheap, it comes at a cost, but it's absolutely, definitely worth it! 

So my recommendation is: always, always, ALWAYS, stage a home.