Stage To Sell: You’ll Get The Edge

According to The New York Times, “Before the market dropped, anything sold. Now there’s so much to pick from the competition is fierce. If the home doesn’t have curb appeal, people drive on. Staging a home’s exterior and interior for sale is now crucial.” Many experts agree:

Westchester’s INTOWN: “The new buzz in real estate is not about mortgage rates but staging, the business of creating a home people will buy. To fix a home for sale takes a ruthless objectivity that an owner just doesn’t have. One home, after 6 months, had lots of visitors but no offers. Almost immediately after home staging, it was sold.”

Rockland Magazine: “It took years to make your house into a home. To sell it, you have to turn it back into a house. The home owner needs to see that this is a product to be marketed, rather than an emotional attachment.”

Before:
Repaired and repainted purple wall in a soft white. Put work station in less conspicuous area.

After:
Moved bed from across the room so can look out windows to landscaped views.

A study of 2,772 properties found that staged homes sold for 4.7% more and stayed on the market for half the time as un-staged homes. A second survey found that sellers received on average 169% return on their staging investment. Thus, it’s easy to understand why 75% of 2,000 brokers surveyed recommend a home stager. Staging costs are also deductible from your capital gains tax.

So what is staging? It’s the opposite of decorating, making your home a reflection of your unique taste. When selling your home, one’s individual style, no matter how wonderful, becomes an obstacle. Most buyers can’t see through your belongings to visualize how your home can reflect them. Vicki eliminates that obstacle by creating a neutral space that retains charm while appealing to all tastes. A home’s best features are highlighted and less attractive ones are disguised. Vicki’s assesses both the exterior and interior of the property suggesting effective steps to improve the likelihood of a sale.  Often this means getting rid of clutter, sometimes changing a room’s paint color if too bright or off putting, suggesting what small repairs are necessary to make, or re-arranging furniture. While you might believe you can successfully stage your own home, realistically it’s almost impossible to eliminate and reorganize personal possessions. And sellers cannot expect their agents to play that role. Agents rarely have time to analyze every aspect of your property, nor do most have the necessary expertise.

Before:
Removed TV from open space to create more light and get rid of electrical cords hanging in other room of master suite. Took out Formica work area.

After:
Opened up river view, put in desk and bookcase for working, and sitting area.

Most problematic are vacant homes. They remain on the market the longest, thus are most in need of staging. It might seem counter-intuitive but an empty room looks much smaller. Also, most buyers are completely stymied by empty space, feeling confused about how their furniture will fit or how to organize the room. VHS, by offering inexpensive but tasteful furniture and props for rent, not only provides a blueprint of how best to arrange a room but also injects intimacy and warmth. Another alternative, with homes staying on the market longer, is to buy inexpensive furniture and rent only the accessories. Sometimes this could be cheaper than renting all the furniture. Once the home is sold, there would be a moving out sale. Vicki’ helps to find these bargains and to organize their resale.

Before:
Repaired ceiling in this laundry room and boxed in dryer pipe. In back room added new wainscoting where it was missing.

After:
Painted both rooms and decorated. Removed from the 150 year old built-in the yellow vinyl tiles on top, sanded and stained the wood. By scrubbing the filthy white doors, the old paint colors were revealed and then polyurethane.

For more examples, visit the Before & After page.