Picture an occupied home -- comfortably furnished, nicely decorated. How would having it staged help it sell? Is it worth the expense? Here are five reasons for sellers of occupied homes to consider a professional home staging consultation:

#1 –Getting a home ready to sell can be overwhelming to sellers, and they may not know how to begin or what to do. Home stagers can tell sellers where to start, and then guide them through the process, from paint color selection to furniture placement.

#2 – Occupied homes are lived in. The sellers have gotten comfortable with the things they have and how they are placed. Their homes are set for the way they live. The next owners will have an entirely different set of things and their own routine. To market their home, the sellers must consider how the house would work for someone else, and be willing to make changes to the way they live while they sell the home. It’s all about the buyers now, and stagers can help sellers make that mind shift and the necessary changes.

The owner of this office was willing to pack up about 20 boxes of books and largely clear the room out. He was rewarded with a sale in 30 days.

#3 – Sellers need help to see the home as a buyer would. Stagers provide “outsiders’ eyes” to see the home differently. Not only can we view the home’s features impartially, we can spot “red flags” – signals of potential problems – that the seller either knows are no longer a problem (like water stains resulting from leaks now repaired), or is unaware of.

For example, the china hutch in this kitchen was a clear indication to us that the home did not provide enough storage for the sellers’ things. The buyers were likely to assume that there would not be enough room for their things, either, so we advised the sellers to put it into storage.

#4 – Decorated does not equal staged. Although they are often beautiful and warmly welcoming places, decorated homes are not meant to be sold. They are meant to be lived in. They are often highly personal, and the décor can distract from or cover up some of the home’s features. Décor can also go out of style. The point of home staging is to show off the home (not the furnishings or the owners’ taste) and make it appeal to a wide segment of its target market. The more highly decorated a home is, the harder it is for buyers to picture themselves making it their own.

Being unbiased outsiders, stagers can point out decorative elements that are too particularly individual, such as paint colors, wallpaper, or collections. The owners of this home had many lovely things, including a curio cabinet containing a large collection of angels. We advised them to pack the angels up, and the result was this welcoming reading nook, instead of a museum likely to distract buyers.

#5 – Home stagers specialize in presenting homes to their best advantage. That’s our full-time job, and something we love to do. We are students of home merchandising: We know what colors work well for marketing homes. We know low-cost solutions for outdated furniture and décor. We know whether furniture needs to be removed or added, and how to arrange that furniture so that it shows off the home. We know how to help home sellers, who are experts in other areas, not this one.

In this example, the seller resisted removing the draperies and much of the furniture from this master bedroom. He thought it would look bare, and that the room would not look as large because it would not be showing how much furniture it could hold. We insisted that the room would look bigger, brighter and more up-to-date, and he chose to trust us. You decide whether or not it worked!

If you are selling your Orlando area home, give us a call at Gloria Home Staging. We will be glad to help make your home feel like home to buyers.