What Is Staging
Home staging is professionally preparing a home to sell with creativity and limited funds. It involves depersonalizing and removing all clutter to transform a house into a turn-key home that will draw in multiple potential buyers who can envision themselves living in.

Why Stage Your Home?
When the seller spent an average of 1% of the value of their home on staging, they saw on average a 1000% return on investment. And in a 2015 National Association of Realtors survey over 81% of buyers said it was easier to visualize the staged property as their next home.

Three Keys to Selling Your Home and Getting Top Dollar

Step One – Prepare the Home on the Inside
Every home seller is aware of the need to spruce up their home (product) so that it sells, but most are not aware of exactly HOW to do this. In fact, in an April, 2014 Zillow survey of real estate agents, they list using a professional home stager to prepare your home to sell as second best investment you can make in the process. After living in a home for more than 2 years, it is almost impossible to “objectively” view the space from a buyer’s perspective and thus spend your staging budget wisely. Our homes are like our children: we are filled with sentiment about them, so that objectively altering them to fit a buyer’s perspective becomes nearly impossible. Home sellers know they need to spend; they just need professional guidance on what to spend on in order to have the greatest return on investment.

So what does a home seller do to view the home objectively and get the most from their staging budget? Hire a professional home stager who is an expert at marketing the inside of a home, so that buyers emotionally respond to each space.

These professionals are called “Home Stagers” and they are adept at working with home sellers in order to help them “disassociate” from the home and begin to view their beloved home as their number-one marketing commodity.

Step Two – Get the Word Out
Did you know that according to the National Association of Realtors over 95% of homebuyers are ONLINE looking at photos of the homes FIRST, before they decide to drive by and visit?

Your real estate agent is adept at listing your home in all the venues that homebuyers are looking at in your area. Remember to think like a homebuyer and go online to review your listing at www.realtor.com, www.zillow.com and www.trulia.com. Are the first handful of photos drawing buyers in or turning them off? Does it visually have appeal and stand out among similar priced homes in your area? If not, go back to Step One and Two to either increase the home’s attraction or consider lowering Step Three.

Step Three – Price the Home Right the First Time
Your real estate agent is an expert on the marketplace and at reading and understanding comparables. Statistically, a home that “sits” loses its new listing buzz and ends up settling for a lower price down the road. In fact, according to a National Association of Realtors survey, the longer a home stays on the market, the further below list price it drops. Homes that sold in the first 4 weeks averaged 1 percent more than the list price; 4 to 12 weeks averaged 5 percent less; 13 to 24 weeks averaged 6.4 percent less than the list price; and 24 weeks averaged more than 10 percent less than list price.

Research the homes for sale in your area and talk with your agent about introducing your home at a price that will encourage potential buyer traffic because the first two steps to selling your home will be sure to promote offers.

Interior Redesign and Home staging are very closely related, but the preparation strategy is different. Interior redesign is preparing the home for the home owners whereas home staging is preparing the home for buyers. Both strategies should incorporate an eye for future resale value and strong organizational skills. They both also require a keen understanding of exactly who you are preparing the home for by interviewing them to discover their needs, demographics, and preferences.

Successful interior redesign is the art of using organizational and decorating techniques to create an environment that is comfortable, stress free, beautiful, and reflects the personality of the homeowner. We use what you already have and purchase new items to incorporate into the design. The objective is to transform the home into a fresh and stylish space that the homeowners will continue to enjoy for years to come.