Reasons To Stage Your Home For Sale
Staging a home is all about showing just how much space a home offers to anyone who is interested in buying it. Stagers try to make a home look larger and as neutral as possible so that a potential buyer can visualize how it can be decorated in the available space at hand. A good stager can emphasize any space whether it is large or small. A stager will bring rooms down to the basics de-emphasizing that warm and fuzzy feeling by removing any and all "clutter" to create a neat, clean space. Staging is the trend in today's real estate market, because buyers don't want to see what someone else has done. They want to image what they can do.
Staging sets a property in a class of its own, and makes the property stand out. Most in the real estate business feel that a staged home will sell faster and bring in a higher selling price. It offers more potential and draws in more potential buyers. As a matter of fact, statistics have shown that homes that are staged are on the market on the average for eleven days, while an unstaged home averages about 22 days.
Staging doesn't come without a price. A homeowner will usually be given an option of a bid or a consultation. A consultation will work with a seller who wants to do the work him or herself. This option costs less than a bid, which has the stager doing or contracting the work. And, when it comes to who pays the bill, it is most often the property owner. Bids can go for as little as $500 (beware - to low) to as high as $5,000 (make sure the stager is phenomenal). A bid somewhere in the middle is usually a safe bet.
To choose a stager, ask around. Someone you know has probably hired one. When you are ready to interview, ask the stager to bring albums of his or her work or ask to see a website. Also ask if he or she is listed as an Accredited Staging Professional or a member of the International Association of Home Staging Professionals. Not all are, but these organizations maintain a code of ethics and different levels of accreditation, and any good stager should be a member. Make sure your personality is in tune with the stager's temperament. You'll be working closing for a while and you don't need to argue about what you think is right but the stager has other ideas. A great relationship will benefit both parties.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Richard sells real estate in the San Gabriel Valley which is about 12 miles South of Los Angeles. For more information, visit his website at http://www.westsangabrielvalleyrealestate.com
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