Professional Home Staging
How you live in your home and how you market your home are likely
two different scenarios. You may use the corner of the kitchen as a
home office, but cramming your office equipment into a nook alongside a
microwave and kitchen table isn’t the most appealing use of space from
a home marketing point of view. Hiring a professional home stager in
either a consulting capacity or to actually stage your home can help
maximize its showing potential.
Your Realtor will know whether your home is a good
candidate for the design service and whether market conditions are such
that staging your home would be beneficial. While design specialists can be costly, hiring a professional
home staging consultant doesn’t necessarily mean spending a lot of
cash. Many consultants charge a flat fee of a few hundred dollars and
in return will provide you with advice that can help you maximize your
home’s showing potential. Their advice can include a detailed breakdown
of your home’s positive qualities and trouble spots – from curb appeal
to a room-by-room evaluation – and provide advice about how to minimize
clutter, get organized, accentuate complimentary lighting, and where to
hang some strategically placed mirrors. The consultant also may point
out any repairs or problems that should be remedied before the house
goes on the market. The professional home stager takes marketing your home to a
higher level, covering the same territory as the consultant, but also
detailing for you which furnishings and other items must be removed and
how to best display the remainder. It’s the stager’s job to make small
rooms look larger and dim rooms brighter. You can leave it to
professionals to rearrange your belongings so that they best compliment
your home’s positive features and minimize its poorer qualities. Some
home stagers will provide furnishings and others may use only what’s
already in the house. Here are some guidelines to help you determine whether you would benefit from a consultation or full-blown staging:
- Determine whether you simply need help organizing and reducing
clutter or if you’d benefit from all that home stagers have to offer.
- A vacant home can be a good candidate for home staging
because a furnished home simply shows better than one that is
unoccupied. Empty homes tend to look smaller than those that are
finished.
- A small home or property that has an unconventional floor
plan can benefit from a professional interior design specialist who can
maximize the property’s unique features.
- Market conditions can also dictate whether staging is the
right choice for you. If the market is hot and houses are selling
quickly, it’s likely that you wouldn’t need the assistance of a
professional home stager. In a buyer’s market, however, it may be in
your best interest to pull out all the stops and beautify your property
to the best of your abilities.
- Your property’s overall condition also is important. If
you’re selling a fixer-upper that needs a lot of structural or other
significant repairs, maximizing the home’s flow from room to room and
strategically positioning its furnishings is probably a waste of effort
and money.