I GET ASKED THIS QUESTION OFTEN… WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU DO TO STAGE A HOME?
You HAVE one chance to create love at first sight!
Less than five years ago in the Midwest, nobody worried about “staging” their home before putting it on the market. But all that has changed, as more and more home sellers enlist the services of home stagers. As with many trends, once the standards have been raised, it’s hard to go back. So, I will explain what an accredited home stager does, and why you seriously need to understand the importance of staging your home in order to sell your home at the best possible price.
A home stager is similar to an interior decorator — with expertise in planning and choosing colors, fabrics, and furniture, and arranging them all in a way that makes your home look its best.
But a good home stager brings a few extra things to the mix. The stager is not focused on creating a home that suits your personal taste and need for everyday comforts, but instead on making your home appeal to a broad range of tastes. Livable or not — probably not, after you’ve hidden the toaster, toothpaste, and laundry hamper — the idea is for the stager’s work to help people fall in love with your place and want to buy it.
• As a Real Estate agent and accredited Home Stager, here are some things that I ideally do….
• Examine your home from top to bottom, and determine what should be done to get it ready.
• Identify specific ways to highlight your home’s best features and compensate for its shortcomings.
• Recommend which items of your furniture and household possessions should stay in the house and which should be removed BEFORE it goes on the market.
• Help you arrange for recommended repairs or other major work on your home — by lining up contractors, carpenters, painters, and landscapers, etc.
• Bring in furniture, art work, rugs, pillows, and some wonderful accessories, all carefully matched and chosen to make your house feel like a place where people can truly see themselves living in your home.
