Lessons Learned from Staging and Selling My Own Home

Lessons Learned from Staging and Selling My Own Home

Now, I have to say that I felt I would now be an expert at preparing my house for sale since I have now been running my staging business for 2+ years. Not to say that I am not an expert, but I certainly was hard on myself as a client.

I have staged my own home previously....meaning before I officially became a "stager". In fact, that is how I got into the business. It was a recommendation from my real estate agent that I stage professionally because I obviously had a knack for it. Both of the homes he sold for me, sold for list price or more on the first day of the open house and it was largely due to how I presented the house since they were plain old subdivision houses.

Because I know what should be done, I set very high expectations for myself and my home and I was completely stressed out that I would drop dead from exhaustion before I got the house ready. I was working day after day, morning until night, to-do lists running through my mind while I should have been sleeping. Not to mention, I have a realtor husband, who I have taught far to much about staging, and I let his "this should be dones" get to me too.

Then, I ran into a friend and ex-client who unknowingly set me straight. She had just sold her house and told me how much my words helped her through the process. I spoke to her the weekend before pictures and video were taken and told her that not everything had to be perfect at that time. Pictures don't show flaws or dirt, and you can move things out of the way and move them back afterwards if everything isn't positioned just perfectly. It really helped her calm down and she realized she still had a whole week until the open house to finish up all the details.

I saw her at the right time. I was not treating myself like I treat my clients. With clients, I calm them down and keep them from being overwhelmed by prioritizing the to-do list and keeping their skill level, timeline and budget in mind.

Since it was just me doing all the work, and the timeframe was slim and money slimmer, I was freaking myself out. Next I prioritized my list and had to come to grips with the fact that some things were just not going to get done, but I did the important stuff first.

I worked on the main floor and kitchen and bathrooms first. I did all the things that would show up in pictures and video in time for them to be taken and then worked on the rest in the time remaining. My 3rd floor which is really bonus space was left unfinished, but still in good shape. I hired a handyman for a day....the best $140 I have ever spent. He hung light fixtures, fixed a broken pipe, installed a range hood and a lock and a bunch of other stuff I could have done.....if there were time. He did it much faster, and all I had left to do was a little painting and cleaning out the basement. I hired a cleaning crew to come through my house on the Friday before the open house and then shipped the kids off to Grandma's house.

I worked right up to the time of the open house, but it all looked pretty good. I thought it was acceptable, but the buyers LOVED IT!!

Here are some things I learned while doing my own house:

1. If there are fabulous architectural features in a home, most buyers don't notice a scuff on the wall that drives you crazy. They are focused on all of the details of the home.
 

2. Bathrooms are hard to stage, especially if there are dated fixtures, but it can still make a huge difference. I love my new bathroom and wish I had made the changes while I was living here.

3. Bondo (a product used to patch car bodies) is great for patching rusted out metal doors, like my front door. Not exactly easy and a little time consuming, but not as much time or money as it would be to get a new door.

4. It is worth hiring a handyman to help with your to-do list. It really takes the pressure off, and it's not that expensive (especially if you pay cash).

5. Light fixtures make a huge difference. Not that I didn't know this, but the ones I decided to change really updated my home.

6. A maid service does wonders for the look of your home. They clean things that you may not think of cleaning and will clean things you don't want to clean.

7. Some people will never be happy, and you can't let it get to you.

And all of the hard work paid off. We had a Saturday and Sunday open house immediately after the house was listed, and by Sunday night, the house was sold firm, full list price, on our closing date. It really made it all worth while, but I don't really want to do it again soon.