A great marketing plan starts with your home, presented to stand out from similar homes. A model consults with a professional stylist before a photo session. A staging pro’s expertise highlights the best aspects of your home for its big premiere.
Stagers offer services from do-it-yourself staging consults and coaching to comprehensive, turnkey packages. When consulting with a stager, consider your budget, how much DIY time you may have, and if you have skills and knowledge to make needed changes or repairs that will conform to local codes.
Home shows on TV can give misleading impressions about prepping your home for sale, especially the realities of costs in time and money. Remember, the shows are edited and produced as much for entertainment as they are for information. Some points:
- Most professional stagers are respectful of your feelings and your furnishings. They will, however, be honest about furnishings that are not an asset to the selling presentation.
- When your are selling your home, it's not just about you. It’s also about buyers. A staging professional isn't there to judge your tastes but to present your house so that it appeals to a broad range of buyers. You may need to live without some furnishings to give your home a more open and updated look. Stagers will try to not to disrupt your life in the process of prepping your home, but the reality is that you may be inconvenienced a little or a lot, for a short period of time, if it can help streamline the selling process.
- Remodeling isn’t always needed. Major repairs may need to be done, but quicker, less expensive, and effective updates, like painting, replacing carpeting or light fixtures will also appeal to buyers.
- Lack of maintenance isn’t resolved in an hour. Tend to those issues now or as soon as you decide to sell.
- Preparing your home involves costs. Maintenance issues, updates, and needed interior re-arrangements affect the costs. How much you will do and how much you expect others to do are also factors. A staging consult can give you a clearer idea of what is needed to prep the house. It’s one of your best investments.
- You affect the sale of your home. You partner with your realtor, stager, and others to prep your home. How your house is prepped directly affects how it shows, the offers made and how long it will take to sell.
Follow these reality checks and leave the drama to TV shows!
© Pam Faulkner, Faulkner House Interior Redesign, LLC
FaulknerHouse.com
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