In this article we are going to talk about Home Staging. Does it really work? How is it done, can I do it myself?

 According to the Feb. 8, 2004, Denver Post "National Association of REALTORS®, say that staged homes were selling nearly 50% quicker than non-staged homes.

The Wall Street Journal stated, "staging speeds up sales in a sluggish market and can bump up prices from two percent to ten percent in a moderate market..."

If you have ever considered buying a property in a new subdivision; you have no doubt been given a tour of a MODEL HOME.  Did it entice you to buy a home, or at least make the homes look much more appealing? A model home is a staged home.  Staged homes are there to give you an idea of what your home could look like. You may feel you could make it look even better with your own things.

Some people have the ability to see what a home could be and some need to be shown. They just do not have the foresight. There is nothing wrong with that. Staging gives the buyer and idea about the potential of a particular home.  Home staging can be seen as a way to advertise a homes finer points that can sometimes be lost behind the current owners, (for lack of a better word) clutter. A home owner may not see their house as being cluttered, however they do not know what a potential buyer may be used to.

Some people think nick-knacks and such make a house more charming, when in actuality it could mean a disaster on the selling point. It can cause what I call "buyer blindness".

Home staging is when you make your house look like a model home. That usually means all personal items go. Many sellers do not understand that the buyer is not there to view their photos or personal memorabilia. Next the furniture needs to be arranged  in an appealing way. Every room and area needs to be distinct. If it is a dinning room; it needs a dinning room atmosphere. This usually includes a table and some chairs.

Another point I would like to make is this: You are trying to sell your home. That means that you should only keep out the things that you use every day. Minimize. Keep clutter off counters and tables. Go ahead and start packing. There is no sense in waiting till the last minute. Not to mention once you get things packed...PUT them in Storage. The boxes do not need to be sitting around the house. This is the purpose of staging a house. The house should be impersonal yet leave a good impression. Buyer like to see space. Sparse furnishings that are tastefully placed.

If all this bothers you, you need to understand that you are going to make new memories somewhere else the sooner you move on.

AAs a real estate broker it is obvious to me that home staging works. I used to work in a resort rentals area. All of our homes were staged. The ones that were staged the best were rented out the most and brought in the highest rental prices. In short, your home should look like a fancy hotel room, where it is cozy yet free of clutter and non essential items.

Now that you know what staging is, let's talk about how to get it done. Earlier I mentioned a few tips about cleaning out clutter and storing all the personal and excess stuff. The rule is if you do not use it EVERY DAY, store it.

 

 

 

Now I am going to talk about something everyone can do.

Before you begin staging....

1. Minimize; remove any extra or unused furniture. TOYS. This is a mistake that a lot of sellers make. Let the kids pick out a couple of things to keep and put the rest in storage or somewhere that they can not be seen. If kids have a play room. Clean it up. Buy nice looking storage to put them in. They do not need to be scattered out everywhere. Kitchen counters; I can not stress enough how much this can effect the selling point in a home. De-clutter them. In the real estate staging rules you are aloud to keep two items on the counter. The rest need to be in cabinets or storage.  Pictures on the wall; A couple of well place paintings or art are ok. NO room should have more than two or three of these, unless it is a tasteful collage or a very large room. Keep wall decor to a minimum.  Do not have fake plants at all if you can help it. If you do keep them to a minimum. Buy real ones for the open house if you have one.

2. Paint; dirty walls, scuffed up floor trim,  any bright or too boldly painted rooms. Go with a more neutral color. Painting is the cheapest improvement you can do that will bring in the most profit. This is a well known fact. Anyone  that deals with real estate can tell you that.

3. Closets and cabinets; Buyer s are sometimes more interested, or so it seems, in closets and cabinets than the house its self.  Do not store all that extra stuff in your closets. Rent a storage unit either of-site or in a separate build other than the house. They can sometimes be able to negotiate around odd rooms and other imperfections, but to little closet space can kill a deal quick. It does not seem so, but I have witnessed it countless times. Clean those closets up. Make them look as big as you can and the less clutter the better. Even a full well organized closet is better than a large crammed one. Buyers have a hard time seeing past your stuff. Believe you me, buyers will open those doors and look in those cabinets.

4. Clean kitchen and bathrooms; This is a must, not an option. All I can say on this is Clean, Clean Clean. De-clutter. make sure it smells clean as well. Get things off the sink and counter areas. If you have glass shower doors, or walls clean them well. Glass can sometimes be "etched" by water deposits. If you don't have the money to replace these if they are bad, here is an inexpensive(cheap)  DIY(do it yourself) system for those who would like to try. If you are thinking of replacing them just look at this.  Gt Glass Repair

 

5. window treatments; Wow. What can I say here. There is nothing worse than dirty, torn, mismatched, broken or to heavy window treatments. Make sure the windows are clean. No; bugs, kids fingerprints, or pet noses on the glass its self.

6. Outside; Often sellers miss this. It's called curb appeal. It's no secret that buyers want to buy the most attractive house on the street or the area. If you can not afford to do much in the way of landscaping, at least make sure the yard is clean, and free of any dead plants, shrubs, weeds. If plants are dead pull them up and put down some plain old mulch. This is chipped up bark you usually see around other peoples plants and yards. Mulch is fairly cheap and buyers will still be able to see a potential flower garden instead of a plant graveyard.  Limit the toys in the yard to a swing set if there is one, and pick up all the excess loose toys laying around if you have kids. Put some storage in the yard for the small toys.

If all this sounds to hard, believe me, it can be a lot of work that will possibly reap bigger rewards. Get you sold faster and into that dream home or to what ever it is you may be moving towards.

 

On to staging your home yourself....

You can do this yourself or you can hire someone to do it for you. Most likely they will require that the above be completed first. Some may even give you a price that includes them doing the above. This can be extremely costly and may not be worth the price after all.

Make sure to get references from anyone that you consider hiring. Call the references and make sure they were satisfied with the work that was done by the company. Most people will be glad to let you know how someone worked out.  You can never be to safe. If you feel like you need to you can always do a back ground check on the person(s).

Run a Complete Background Check with US Search.

 Some contractors travel all over the place; You can find some of them online. However, I suggest that if you can not get HGTV to help you, (just kidding) that you get someone close to you. Just be sure you are aware of the prices and upfront costs and what you will be getting before hiring them. If I have learned anything, it's that you should get everything in writing. One of your local real estate agencies or your listing agent, if you have already listed your house, might be able to help. Some Real Estate agents specialize in Home Staging.

On to doing it yourself.

If everything on the first list is done then the staging should be relatively easy and go pretty fast.  Let's assume that the painting is done and clutter is gone; the walls are fresh and crisp and the rooms pretty bare and ready to begin.

1. Room by room pick the best layout for your furniture. A great tool that designers use and is easy to make from just scraps is a scale model of the room using graph paper. Figure out how many blocks you need to represent an inch on your graph paper. Measure the room, draw the outline on the graph paper, then measure each piece of furniture in the room. You can make little cutouts that is movable and lay them on the paper to figure out the best plan or just draw them on. Some rooms can only be arranged in a limited number of ways. Just do the best you can.  For some good ideas check out the books from amazon.com to the left. You can also see some great designs by going to RateMySpace.

2. Replace; tired worn-out bedding. Tip: don't go to floral, stick to a solid color or soft pattern. Not to many rugs. Remember to keep wall art to a minimal. In every room there should be lots of clean spaces. no clutter on dressers or night-stands. If all you have is overhead lighting, you would probably do to investing in a lamp or two for those rooms. (excluding garages, etc.).  There are some really nice inexpensive lamps. I have even paid as little as $5.00 for a gorgeous little night-stand lamp. Cheap does not always mean cheesy. C is a  similar picture of a lamp I purchased for $5. I bought two. They use small bulbs so they won't be overly bright.

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

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