Atlas Market Insights

What target market do you style the property for? Although we try to appeal to the widest range of buyers possible, we still need some direction, so our target market completely depends on the property. We often break down the target market by location, demographic and expected purchaser profile. Our stylists also have strong relationships with the agents who sell the premium properties that we style. This allows them to have a frank chat with the agent about who they think this home will sell to and who the styling should be geared towards. When you style a property, where do sellers live? This answer strongly depends on the seller’s personal situation. It is, of course, most ideal when they have already found another property and have moved their furniture into the new property. However, this is seldom the situation as not many people can buy a home without selling their current one. Styling the property when it is empty is clearly the easiest way to do things, but more often than not we practice “integration”. When the person is still living in the home with their furniture, we recommend they put some or all their furniture in storage and continue to live at the property with the styled furniture. If they have some good pieces to include, we will often keep them in the house and style around these pieces, otherwise known as “integration”. This is the most common way of styling. What design trends are you seeing in homes this year? Of course, people are opting for more home offices due to increased working from home. But more interestingly, we are seeing lots of warm tones being brought into the colour palette. Grey had its time in the sun, but now we are being bolder with our colour choices. Often, people are choosing a cool palette with accents of warmer tones. A balance is always a great option. Also indoor and outdoor living is a continuous trend but has been brought to a peak as people are starting to entertain at home far more instead of going out. What can homeowners do before they get their home styled? After our initial consultation at Coco Republic we do give some advice specific to the property. But overall, our main piece of advice is to declutter, as purchasers won’t buy a house that they can’t see. Take most personal clutter down because it makes it difficult for potential buyers to attach themselves to the property, although a few tasteful family portraits are usually ok. Another tip is to give everything a fresh coat of paint, especially to any loudly coloured feature walls. It’s important to appeal to a mass market so neutral walls are key. It’s also important to freshen up the outside of your property with some paint as well as tidying the outside. It’s also crucial to use each space as it’s intuitively meant to be used. For example, if you’ve made a dining room into a bedroom, it just wont feel right and buyers might be confused. Make sure to return to the traditional way your house was laid out. 30