Setting the Stage!

One of my daughters is really into reality TV shows about fixing things up, whether it’s wardrobes, antiques, hoarded homes – sometimes even relationships! There appears to be a strong demand in the U.S. for more and more of these types of shows (given how much they’ve been proliferating), and I suspect it’s because people really enjoy watching a “diamond in the rough” being transformed into its full, shining potential in an hour or less.

Following this trend, there have been a few TV shows geared specifically towards staging one’s home in order to make it as desirable as possible for potential buyers. On Encarta’s World Dictionary online, “staging” is defined as: beautifying a home for sale: cleaning, repairing, and updating the decor and furnishings of an older home to make it more attractive when shown to potential buyers. The TV show will bring in a professional stager who will gently show the befuddled homeowners the errors of their previous ways and make suggestions for the aforementioned beautification.

The conclusion of the half-hour or hour-long show will always make it seem as if it was the staging alone that really “sealed the deal” and brought the house to close. You might wonder, is that for real? Can a little feng shui, Febreeze, and soft lighting really make that much of a difference?

This answer is yes, it can. It can make a much bigger difference than you think, in terms of both the salability of the house and in its perceived value – which then translates to bigger bucks for you, the seller!

 As a follow-up to my December 3^rd blog post about pricing your house correctly for the market, I am going to give you some specific tips on how to stage your home to make it more appealing to buyers. For help with this, I turned to Karen Heagle in my office, a certified (and highly knowledgeable) home stager.

Here are Karen’s “tricks of the trade” for staging:

The way you live in a home and the way you stage a home are two different things. Once your house goes on the market, it becomes a product.  You wouldn’t think of selling your car without getting it showroom ready, so here’s what you should do with your house:

• Clear any clutter and additional furniture, and if you are moving, start packing.  "If you can't see it, you can’t sell it" should be the rule of thumb here.
• To increase curb appeal, a clutter-free exterior is important as well.
• Put away your collections - they become distractions for buyers and are not for sale anyway.
• Reduce the number of family photos.  The buyers need to be able to picture themselves living there. That’s tougher for them to do when they’re surrounded by pictures of Junior splashing in the bathtub or getting rides from Fido on the living room floor.
• Be sensitive to odors: "If you can smell it, you can't sell it." This is especially true for pet odors! I can guarantee that your buyers will not feel the same emotional connection to Mister Fuzzysnout that you do, nor will they appreciate his shedding habits.
• Watch out for wall colors. I’m all in favor of letting your kids express themselves creatively, but while your Goth teenager might have insisted that black walls were essential to his happiness, your buyers probably won’t feel the same way. When in doubt, paint it out – neutral tones are best for creating that “blank canvas” feel, which allows the buyer to project their own personal future hopes onto the property. The same goes for overwhelming wallpapers.
• Pay attention to unfinished projects such as the rail around your deck, missing hardware, loose doorknobs, broken windows, etc. These give buyers the sense that they are buying an unending list of things that need to be fixed. Who wants that? Take the time and get it done. You’ll thank yourself later.
• In general, look at the house with a buyer’s eyes... and remember, you only get one chance to make a first impression!

If all of this sounds a bit daunting, you might want to consider hiring an accredited staging professional with a trained eye – this will take a lot of the guesswork out of it!

You want to be able to sell your property as quickly and for as much money as possible.  For this reason, it is important to spend the time getting your property ready for showings.  An experienced Realtor can give you a good idea about which items need your attention and what you can skip in staging your home as appealingly as possible.