To Stage or Not to Stage? Preparing Your Home For Sale

Gone are the days when you stuck a yard sale sign in a home that was

being prepared for sale, held an open house and printed out flyers as

some of the major tools for marketing real estate property. As homes

that are listed for sale populate the internet and are available to be

viewed by a national audience, professional realtors are increasingly

seeking to improve their skills in order to assist the homeowner to

market his or her home in ways that will showcase the property in the

best light and improve the final sale price. Often, these skills

include advising the homeowner on how to prepare the home for

photographs as well as the actual physical viewing of the home.



While, most realtors may know the marketability of a property based on

other factors such as the location of the property, size of the

property, etc., they may not be as adept in interior design principles

that will enhance the showcasing of the home. Thus a whole new

service industry, called "staging" has sprouted from these needs.

Staging is the new buzzword in the real estate industry used to

describe the de-cluttering, redesigning and in some case remodeling of

a home to prepare it for sale.



In the past, homeowners were left to their own discretion when it came

to home showings. If they didn't have any idea on how to prepare for

the home showing they often depended on their realtor for guidance.

While that may have been sufficient then, in this ever increasingly

competitive market (where sellers try to solicit the best prospective

buyers) staging has become a growing industry and a tool in the

realtor's marketing arsenal. In order to maintain a competitive

advantage, more and more realtors are adapting quickly to either learn

these basic principles themselves or to add interior designers to

their contact lists who can provide these services. Usually as part

of the marketing of the property, several photographs of the home are

almost mandatory and as virtual tours of homes become increasingly

popular the need to showcase the home properly becomes a necessity.



Professional home stagers are practiced in the art of preparing a home

for resale. They work with the "flow" of a home, eliminate clutter,

edit and arrange furniture, and may even assist in enhancing curb-

appeal. The interior design techniques that professional home stagers

use increase the overall look and desirability of the home. With ever

popular real estate television shows on HGTV such as "Curb Appeal" and

"Designed to Sell", homeowners expect their realtor to be

knowledgeable about these techniques.



In the current real estate climate where most homes have interior and

exterior photographs taken of the property and posted on real estate

internet sites this type of service is a plus. Some statistics show

that staging improves the final sale price of the house by anywhere

from 2% - 10%. For example, in the current California real estate

market with the median sale price of a home at $597,640 these figures

can mean anywhere from $11,952.00 to $59,764.00! That's quite a bit of

pocket change for a comparatively minor investment.



Depending on the home seller's budget, a home staging service can

prepare a home with simple tasks like rearranging furniture,

eliminating clutter, advising the homeowner on special cleaning tasks

to coordinating much more complex activities such as repainting,

carpeting and refinishing hardwood floors. When it comes to higher

priced homes in luxury neighborhoods sometimes extensive remodeling is

advisable. While the initial outlay by the homeowner may be

substantial a homeowner's equally substantial return on investment

usually makes it worthwhile. With such great returns, what might have

seemed liked a trend a few years ago isn't showing any signs of

stopping.