Meet The Locals...

Mark Anderson chats with property stylist Cath Leunig from Prestige Property Concierge about the benefits of staging your home for sale.

Property styling has become an important factor in making a property stand out when it’s on the market. Staging or styling a property can make it more appealing to buyers when they visit an open home. It also allows for better photos, so that when buyers see a property advertisement, they can already imagine themselves living there and the lifestyle they could have in the property.

For these reasons, I believe styling plays an important role in getting many homes sold for the best price. And the better the stylist, the better the returns usually are when the property does sell.

I’ve been using Perth property stylist Cath Leunig and her team for many years. Cath runs Prestige Property Concierge, which goes beyond your typical property styling to offer so much more - it’s a "one-stop-shop" for getting a property ready to sell.

Cath’s team have become an integral part of the way we sell properties in Perth’s Western Suburbs. Her care, attention to detail and advice contributes to our sellers achieving excellent sales results.

We recently had a chat about the value of styling and how her company, Prestige Property Concierge, really offers sellers the edge on the competition.

So Cath, how did you originally get into property styling and how did Prestige Property Concierge come to life?

I was always into aesthetics and marketing. Before I had a family I used to work in advertising and I also worked for an outdoor advertising company. I really got into styling property after my husband and I started flipping houses.

A friend and I took the next step and started styling prestige homes, mainly in Perth’s Western Suburbs. Over the decades the business morphed and changed from purely styling to “concierge” because we could see there was an opportunity to expand our offering.

Our small team offers a unique independent service that creates a win for everybody. We take care of all the preparation. We look after both apartments and houses.

My main focus is prepping the houses for sale - providing a report that covers the whole property from the front verge to back fence and everything in between.

We get the keys and off we go, looking after everything from maintenance to coordinating trades, working with interior designers, improvements, styling and getting furniture.

We also look after smaller renovations, like a kitchen or alfresco area, and sometimes we act as the client's representative on site. Plus, we have a handful of high-end properties we look after for clients who don’t live locally. We provide them with a full concierge service of looking after the property, garden or pool, and even stocking the kitchen with groceries if they’re in town.

We really do try and act as a property concierge one-stop-shop: whatever you want, we will find it for you.

What do you enjoy about working in property styling?

I just love it. I enjoy the customer service aspect, and getting the property to the stage where everyone wins - the seller wins with a top sale and the buyer gets a fabulous property.

I like that it’s fast paced. I’m a people person so I also like dealing with the agents and the trades. It’s really important we work in collaboration with the owner and the agent. I genuinely care about each property and every sale. I want everything to be great.

You know I’m a big believer in the value of property styling, but what do you think good styling adds to a property sale? Can you quantify the value it adds?

If it's done correctly there is no question styling adds value to properties. That's where our expertise comes in. We aim to get our sellers top dollar. With decades of experience, we’ve become good at knowing what to spend on and where the return on investment will be.

If the styling is done with the right demographic in mind, then I think it is the number one thing that will get the property across the line and achieve top dollar - and fast. That's why I work closely with the real estate agent, to target the right demographic.

Why should sellers invest in home staging or styling?

Most people look online for property first - it's the photos that bring them in - so we style for photos. We think about where the photo will be taken from and how it will look. We show our clients examples of before and after photos, and show how it adds value and appeal to your property. I also like to try to work with some of the owners' items if possible, especially if they are still living there.

Styling is a big part of our job but it's only one part of our service.

In the current market buyers are paying top dollar and they don’t want any further work to do - so good maintenance is equally important, and something we pay close attention to.

What are the most common property styling mistakes you see?

The first would be the wrong furniture or furniture placement. Older furniture or damaged furniture shouldn’t make a difference to the sale price but it does, because most people can’t see past other people’s furniture. We make a property more appealing, to meet the market.

Another mistake is not attending to the streetscape or curb appeal of a property, because people often drive past to have a look, and that will be their first (and sometimes only) impression.

A third thing is colours, and by that I mean paint colours or furnishings that might not be right for the target market. In certain urban areas you might have blacks, darks and moody colours, but in prestige beachside areas you may want a higher end coastal palette. Then in more family friendly areas it will be different again.

We worked on a property at 11 Arenga Court, Mount Claremont[1] . It’s a large 1990s property. The colours were a bit peachy, reflective of the era, so we changed paint and light fittings, did a little maintenance, styling with furniture, re-did the garden and made it more contemporary without spending too much.

What is your top styling tip?

Less is best, without making it sterile. We want to see the property, the size of the rooms, ceiling heights, etc, but even when we are staging we also need some personality. I like to make it look like people live there, because a property needs a soul.

Is there a quintessential Perth style?

Yes, I’d say modern contemporary. My clients also love art and supporting local artists. Curvy furniture is very popular right now, from places like Jardan and Mobilia,

Where do you shop or look for design inspiration locally?

I follow Architectural Digest and I am a big fan of The Local Project. I work with two local interior designers, Gaia Sebastiani and Anna Lucinda Baxter, who I greatly admire and are incredible so I get a lot of inspiration from them. I also get a lot of ideas from the screen - watching Netflix for example.

https://www.prestigeprop.com.au/