Before getting into Real Estate, I spent a year as a home stager. Superior Avenue Home Staging Co., is the name of my staging company.
I studied the CSP Certified Staging Professionals course. I had Joanne O'Donnell as my teacher and mentor. It was a very good course on to learn how to stage correctly.
A properly staged home is like magic to the transaction. I do mean a properly staged home. I have seen so many homes that are "staged" and they look it. The key to staging successfully is to make it look as if it wasn't staged at all. You want to have the home look like it was well maintained, clean and up-to-date.
You want to address all first impression points throughout the home, starting with the curb appeal from the street. You want to continue the staging all the way to the back fence of the property.
It does not make any sense to stage the home and have some ugly front landscaping. If the buyers don't stop their cars to look at the home, they won't go inside for a closer look.... It's that plain and simple. Weeds are your enemy. Take the garden hose and wash down the home the day before your open house remove dust from window sills.
Inside the home the very first impression, the entry hall is the most important to get right. It had better be warm and welcoming. If you're gonna require "shoes off", please, please, please supply a comfy bench for people to sit on while removing their shoes. Supply a nice basket from Pier 1 or Cost Plus Worldmarket for them to place their shoes in. Duh
Next address the living room. Address the focal point of the room (fireplace, view). But make the room look great from the entrance to that room! Look for a second entrance into that room, from the dining room perhaps, that can also be the first time someone sees that room. it's important to make the room look great from both first impressions. If not it will look like the back of a movie set----fancy on one side and plywood, wires, and equipment on the other----not good for real estate.
make the property look like it is someone's home.
Living rooms = Casual entertaining
Dining rooms = warm intimate gatherings
Master bedrooms = retreat
De-personalize the home
Remove all personal items that will distract the buyer from visualizing their own belongings in the house. The worst thing is to try to sell your client on a house when "Good old aunt Mildred" is staring back at them from the photos on the wall.
You want to make the home gender neutral. If you have a listing where you have a widow who has lived alone for 20 years and has no signs of her deceased spouse anywhere in the house. You have all seen the house, pink walls, flowered wallpaper, gilded mirrors with cherubs! No man will feel comfortable in the house yet alone buy the place. The same goes for the opposite of course. Bachelor pads do not appeal to females, leave the frat house back in your college days.
The home is on the market and should be considered a product or commodity.
De-clutter the home
Square footage sells the house. If the buyer can't see the square footage, the house will appear smaller than it is. A home that appears smaller than it actually is will not come across as a value in the comps.
Put in closet organizers in the closets.
Call Portable On-Demand Storage to come out and drop a POD out in the driveway. Have your clients pre-move out of the house. They are moving anyway. Get rid of the off-season clothing. Get rid of the collections and anything that could be clutter. It's a great time to have a garage sale, ask your Realtor for loaner directional signs.
enough for today......
