Staging Matters
Wednesday, March 6th, 2013
I pay for a professional stager to evaluate nearly every home I represent. Sure, after thirteen years in the business I have a pretty good idea what a property that’s going to move looks like; I don’t necessarily need a second opinion to get most of the way there. Still, I recognize the value of people who are good at what they do, and specialize in their field, and moreover I believe proper staging is one of the most reliable ways to sell a house for at or near asking price.
What does a stager do? Well, the one I use surveys the property and scrutinizes it the way a buyer might, then prepares a detailed report filled with recommendations on how to make the home show better. This might be shifting around some furniture (or getting rid of some), paring down items on shelves, and just general decluttering. A stager is a design professional who knows about the relationship of objects in space, and how that relationship makes people feel. The same way a clever Realtor came up with the idea of baking cookies in a home before an open house to elicit warm fuzzies in potential buyers, a stager helps make a home feel wonderful to visit and therefore attractive to buy. All those fabulous properties on magazine covers, they don’t just look like that naturally – they’re carefully staged to give off a particular vibe: to look larger, warmer, breezier, more modern.
Clients can choose to hire a stager to do the work of staging the house, even to the extent of renting furniture, artwork, and other props to create a unified look (particularly useful in a vacant property). At the very least, though, I usually insist on the consultation, as the relatively small investment of money and time usually translates to a faster sale for a higher price. And we all like that.
