Sellers and Realtors: Staging Education, an Overview, Part One

Sellers and Realtors: Staging Education, an Overview, Part One

Part of my role as a professional home stager is to educate Home Sellers and Real Estate Agents about the realities of Home Staging.  Watching home staging programs on TV frequently misleads viewers and does not often impart the details of how a professional stager works and how the staging process plays out.

In the Fresno, Clovis and Madera foothill and mountain communities the housing market remains a very strong Buyers market.  I have heard many stories of buyers getting homes for 40-50% of the value that was established for them 2-3 years ago.  Many sellers are underwater with their loans and need a way out.  Home staging can help with these issues. 

Professional home staging is frequently misunderstood by many real estate agents and homeowners.  Sellers and agents are often fearful of the stager and the process.  They often think that it is primarily about decluttering, removing family photos and then adding beautiful items from a stager's inventory or having to buy new furniture themselves. 

While those aspects can be important they are NOT the sum total of what a professional home stager can do for you and your home.  We do NOT come into a home to demean or berate how the seller lives.  Our goal is to help sell the property and to make the process as easy on the seller's as possible. 

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 When you call a PROFESSIONAL home stager for a consultation, the following six steps should be discussed in detail:

• * Repairs:  a professional home stager will suggest making repairs to your property before it is listed For Sale.  Professional home stagers have the expertise to know where to best spend your hard-earned dollars for the best return on repair expenditures.  If buyers see a property in need of repairs it usually means a low-ball offer or they move on to the next listing.

* Updating:  this can be as simple as replacing light fixtures, plumbing fixtures or cabinet knobs to painting and removing wallpaper. Most professional home stagers are also great shoppers and can send you to stores to find the bargains and can advise on style and finish issues. 

* Neutralizing:  this is where removing family photos is included, but also covers removing odors, changing paint colors, depersonalizing theme specific rooms and making the overall feel of the house appeal to a broad range of potential buyers. Professional home stagers know what colors and styles have broad buyer appeal.  We focus on the target market for each home.

* Decluttering:  most of us live with a excess of stuff.  Our personal items are important to us, but they are not important to buyers, they distract buyers and they take up too much valuable space.  They need to be packed away for the eventual move.   THE WAY WE DWELL is NOT THE WAY TO SELL.

* Cleaning:  Who wants to buy your dust and dirt? NO ONE! A home For Sale must be pristinely clean.  Upkeep can be a hassle but professional stagers can help you with ideas on how to make it easier.  

* Dramatize:  this is where Professional home stagers shine but that's AFTER the above five (5) issues are remedied.  In this step, the home stager will consider curb appeal, traffic flow, creating focal points, highlighting architectural features and views, and generally making the home feel comfortable with WOW factor that makes any potential buyer to want to move in. 

A Professional Home Stager should be able to advise and counsel on all 6 of the above steps. Be leary of those that cannot. 

This real estate market is NOT hopeless and there are budget friendly things that you can do to help make the sale. Parts 2-7 of this series will cover each of the six staging steps in detail with photograph examples and links to more advice.  

Call a professional stager today, for a consultation to help get you and your home on the road to selling success. 

Click here for a link to Part Seven where you will find links to all of the other parts. 

Click here for Part Two, Repairs

Click here for Part Three, Decluttering

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Dream Interior Redesign & Staging, by Ginger Foust, is a full service Professional Staging and ReDesign company.  We specialize in staging occupied and vacant homes.  We provide design and color consultations and ONE-day interior redesigns. 

We help dwellers & sellers achieve their DREAMS with their homes.

Locally serving the Californiafoothill and mountain communities of Oakhurst, North Fork, Coarsegold, Ahwahnee, Bass Lake, Wawona and Mariposa.  Also servicing areas of Fresno, Clovis and Madera, California.

 Providing Virtual and Conceptual Staging Worldwide.

 Click here to see a variety of short slideshows with examples of our work in staging & redesign. 

 Visit our website at www.dreamredesigns.com for more information or call 559-877-2442.