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Does My Beautiful Home Really Need Advice From a Home Stager?

By Margaret Oscilia

Home Stager with Creative Concepts-Home Staging and Contracting, Salem Oregon CCB #180695

July 13, 2010 12:32 AM

Dear Home Staging Expert: Do beautiful rooms need staging for sale in Salem Oregon?

My home is beautifully decorated and I receive many compliments on my style and taste in furnishing and decor. I'm preparing to sell in the near future and my real estate agent advised I hire a "home staging expert" to give me some advice. I can't imagine what benefit I would receive from this service. (I actually find it a bit insulting.) Please advise.

Sincerely,

Divine Design Diane

Dear Diane:

Thanks for taking the time to ask this important question before dismissing your agent's recommendation. First and most importantly please keep this in mind: We decorate our homes to create a beautiful environment for us to enjoy. When selling, we create a neutral palette for someone else to paint their story upon.

How we decorate our homes to live in and how we decorate to sell are two different things. This should not be considered an insult on your design style. Staging for sale is merely a different design concept. You home's decor may need to be modified to appeal to the general public and so the photos look spacious and inviting. Have you ever been to a model home? They has limited furniture and decor so buyers can move around easily and enjoy the home, but not be distracted by the decor.

You mentioned that your home is beautifully decorated with your style, this may be different than what is appealing to some potential buyers. Can you afford not to appeal to every person who views your home? Now is the time to remove some of the personalization and make it easy for someone else to see them living there, placing their own style in this home.

Usually a beautifully decorated home is easy to prepare to appeal to the broadest number of home buyers possible. For example:

Remove smaller furniture pieces and decor, to make the room appear more spacious and improve traffic flow
Remove decor that draws attention to itself, rather than the architecture or purpose of the room
Remove custom draperies that have a style not consistent with current home buyer's desires or that block light from entering the room
Keep a neutral palette throughout the home with accents of color.

For example, in the above photo, what do you remember most - the beautiful window or the window coverings? If someone likes a sleek style, will they be able to feel comfortable in this room which contains lots of furniture and patterns? While this is a beautiful room, a few changes could make it more appealing to home buyers.

custom Oregon homes benefit from staging This room also is well decorated in neutral tones. Removal of a few furniture pieces and decor would improve traffic flow and make it appear spacious in photos and in person which is important to home buyers.

While hiring a home staging expert for a consultation may seem unnecessary for beautiful homes, their fresh perspective and knowledge of what home buyers perceive and are looking for can be a valuable tool to be used when preparing your home for sale.

We LOVE LOVE LOVE home selling and real estate questions! If you have a question about home staging, home maitenance, or preparing your home for sale in Oregon please contact us at stagingoregon@gmail.com!

Other posts you may find useful:

Who Pays For Real Estate Staging?

Is Your Home a "Pleasant Surprise"? When Selling this is a NO NO!

Does Your Home "Feel" Right?

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Bryan Robertson

Los Altos, CA

I suggest staging on an as needed basis and always at the option of the seller. Most homes I sell just need less clutter and I save my clients money by recommending what things they should remove. Some follow the advice, others don't. In the end, it makes more difference when the home is clean, well cared for, with trim landscaping, and has great curb appeal. I've never had a listing not sell because the home had the wrong color furniture or a style that people didn't like. Staging is important but it isn't everything.

Jul 13, 2010 11:06 AM

Cathy Lee

CL Design Services Home Staging - Danville, CA

ASP, IAHSP, RESA Danville, CA

Love this post!! Beautifully written!!

I could not sit in the room (first photo) for very long-my eyes would be tired and I would get a headache.

Jul 13, 2010 12:03 PM

Patsy Overton

Patsy Overton Interiors, Atlanta, Georgia - Duluth, GA

Great points, Margaret! I actually had 2 such consultations today. Both homes were beautifully decorated, but needed to be staged. Congrats on the feature!

Jul 13, 2010 01:15 PM

Wendy Hayden

Photographer, Home Stager, ePRO - Richmond, VA

Chesterfield, Richmond & Powahatan

When you live in a home, you see it differently than someone coming in for the first time. A stager can see things that you are used to, and help you to make the best first impression.

Jul 13, 2010 01:35 PM

Sharon Tara

Sharon Tara Transformations - Portsmouth, NH

Retired New Hampshire Home Stager

Congratulations on a well deserved FEATuRE! This is a great response to a very common question. There are very few homes on the market that couldn't gain something from a home staging consult.

Jul 13, 2010 01:54 PM

Tim Maitski

Atlanta Communities Real Estate Brokerage - Atlanta, GA

Truth, Excellence and a Good Deal

Great post.

Jul 13, 2010 02:32 PM

Lynn Krogseng

Keller Williams Premier Partners - Vancouver, WA

Margaret, I love what you've written here. For me it's especially timely since I have clients that like how their house looks and it's not of the style that typifies the homes in the neighborhood. Your post is definitely going to help me speak to them in a way that won't offend.

Jul 13, 2010 02:46 PM

Cindy Bryant

Redesign Etc. Home Staging - Houston, TX

"Houston Home Staging Pros"

My clients sometimes say "your house must be staged so beautifully", I just laugh, and say "oh, it's not staged, it's decorated to my own tastes". "When I sell it, my house will look entirely different"!

Jul 13, 2010 05:06 PM

Bill Burchard

3B Realty: 951-347-3818, CA - Murrieta, CA

Broker, Realtor, Representing Buyers and Sellers

Thanks for explaining the reasons for hiring a stager so clearly and concisely, Margaret. I've bookmarked your post for future reference.

Jul 13, 2010 05:12 PM

Ana Hitzel

AccentPositives Home Staging - Corona, CA

Professional Home Stager Inland Empire

Super post Margaret, this is a great response to the misconceptions about Staging. Those misconceptions often are the cause of a potential client feeling insulted when suggestions are made to change this or that at consultations. Great educational pictures and responses, thanks for this post!

Ana

Jul 14, 2010 05:02 AM

Kim Dillon

Creative Eye Home Staging - West Chester, PA

Great explanation. Unfortunately the sellers can't always be convinced. I recently tried to explain this to someone with outdated mauve walls. The response was, "we always get compliments on this room." (And yes, I was thoughfrul in the way I phrased the suggestion). Oh well, "you can lead a horse. . . ." We will all keep trying! Thanks for more ideas on how to let owners know.

Jul 14, 2010 01:16 PM

C. Bartch

Newark, OH

Margaret, well written post, staging & decorating are entirely different!

Jul 14, 2010 02:14 PM

Jenny Kotulak

RE/MAX Real Estate Centre Inc., Brokerage - Oakville, ON

Broker - Oakville Ontario Real Estate

A very tactful and diplomatic answer to a difficult question. Excellent advice.

Jul 14, 2010 05:06 PM

FN LN

Toronto, ON

Margaret - A fantastic post that will assist many real estate agents and home sellers.

Jul 14, 2010 05:26 PM

Fred Carver Real Estate Consulant

Retired BC Realtor - Victoria, BC

Accredited Real Estate Consultant

Hi Margaret..I followed Jenny's Re-Blog, Great Response to this Lady's inquiry...Well Done !

Jul 14, 2010 06:53 PM

Virginia Tatseos

Stage-Show-Sell - Bloomfield Township, MI

That first photo looks like Martha Stewart fan. It would make me dizzy.

You gave great advice

Jul 16, 2010 04:36 AM

Joan Marsh Bunker

Staged with Class - Marlton, NJ

Haven't seen a house yet that wouldn't benefit from some 'expert' staging advice. The trick is to give said advice in a manner that is not insulting to the owner. I'm still working on that!

Jul 16, 2010 03:41 PM

Courtney Cooper

Cooper Jacobs - Seattle, WA

206-850-8841

I love that first picture!!!! Congrats on your feature:) Wonderful post - I would much rather live in the first picture, but fully subscribe to the appealing to a broader audience of the second one. Do you have more pix of the first house? I might steal some ideas for my house - LOL

Jul 17, 2010 06:15 AM

Wanda Richards

Shows Great Home Staging and Web Solutions - Roanoke, VA

Shows Great Home Staging

Margaret - great post. I will have to remember some of your quotes the next time a "Divine Design Diane" calls me in to do a staging consultation.

Jul 17, 2010 06:39 AM

Kathy Streib

Cypress, TX

Home Stager/Redesign

Margaret- I get this so much as do other stagers. I loved how you explained the difference between Design for your own personal living and staging your house to sell. In one of my stagings the seller had a brightly colored wall that "hit you in the face" when you entered the home. His reply when I suggested they paint it a more neutral color? "My UPS man loves it every time he makes a delivery here and so does every one else!" This is an important message that we need to continue to get out to our sellers.

Jul 17, 2010 02:44 PM