image from flickr.com (Mr. T in DC)

Hiring a stager could cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars to fill a vacant space.  According to the US National Association of Realtors, staged homes sell 49% faster than homes that were not staged.  It is important to do your research, because not all home stagers are created equal.  Some “stagers” take a 1 day course before they begin and may do you more harm than good.  Check out the stager’s porfolio and if you see too many couches on angles, breakfast trays on the beds and slippers on the floor next to the nightstand then run the other way.  Nothing worse than an over-staged home.  Your stager should appeal to the buyer and help them imagine themselves living in your home.  If a stager is too obvious, the plan may backfire. 

Here are some pretty impressive before and after staged shots…

image from NY Home Staging Solutions

image from NY Home Staging Solutions

image from Spruce Home Staging in NJ

image from Spruce Home Staging in NJ

image from Spruce Home Staging in NJ

image from Spruce Home Staging in NJ

  Staging shows on t.v. have been popular and my fav is The Stagers which will come out with their 2nd season this spring on HGTV.

image from hgtv.com

image from Dekora.com

Check out some of Dekora’s transformations….

image from Dekora.com

image from Dekora.com

image from dekora.com

(source links:  NY Home Staging Solutions, HGTV, flickr.com, Spruce Home Staging )

sfadden from flickr.com

  

  One of my other interests is following local real estate.  My mother and my husband are in the business (one in residential the other in commercial) so I guess I have been exposed to it on a regular basis.  I am on realestate.com  all the time checking out properties.  Real estate design is a little different than designing a home for yourself.  Real estate design is removing “you” from your home design so that others can picture themselves in the home.  You have to try to appeal to the largest base of home shoppers out there.  Having a home that is too customized to your tastes will decrease your target “audience”.  Here are some real no nos in real estate.

zenia from flickr.com

  You would think this one is obvious.  But, I have seen many homes that keep their display of family pics and kid’s artwork up on the fridge while the house is on the market.  I’m guilty of using my fridge to display kid’s artwork and pics.  However, it has to come down before a sign goes up.

  Here are some real photos from realtor.com.  The first two are from a home asking for almost $700,000!  I kid you not.  Check it out.

courtesy of realtor.com

And then in the same house…

courtesy of realtor.com

  What are these people thinking?  What is the realtor thinking? 

  Sometimes you might have a perfectly decent room and the realtor just has some difficulty capturing the good qualities while taking a photo.  Check this out…

courtesy of realtor.com

  It is a nice picture of the lamp if that is what you were going for. 

  And what was the realtor trying to show in the next photo?  The microwave or that picture-covered fridge?

courtesy of realtor.com

But, I have to end this post with my most absolute favorite, the sideways pic.  Check it out.

courtesy of realtor.com

Do show your house in it’s best light.  You are presenting your home and people have to be able to see your home’s good qualities.  Not everyone has imagination to look beyond the clutter, the bad paint choices, the ugly furniture.  I think the funniest story I ever heard was from friends that were old house fans and they fell in love with a house that was a complete mess.  As they were walking around they noticed an elderly gentleman who was sitting quietly amongst piles of newspapers in a dark room on what they think was a couch.  That would have been it for me but they bought the place anyway and made it a beautiful home.  These type of buyers are very rare.  That for sale sign will take permanent residence on your front lawn if you don’t style your home for the potential buyers.