Common Home Staging Techniques

There is a wide range of techniques that a home stager will make use of. Depending on the circumstances regarding a home, a few or several different approaches might be taken to stage a property. Some of the most common methods include de-cluttering, eliminating the personal style and reminders from a home, updating older or unattractive fixtures, adding a fresh coat of paint to the walls, rearranging or renting furniture, as well as bringing in accessories that heighten the appearance of the interior and exterior of a residence.

First impressions are quite important to a potential home buyer; therefore curb appeal is another aspect of home staging that a professional may focus on. The exterior of a house is just as important as the inside, especially since it is the first thing people see when they visit a house showing. New plants, flowers, and shrubbery are commonly added to a landscape.

Lighting and the spaciousness of a home is another important detail that stagers will focus on. When rooms look bigger to homebuyers, they are more apt to feed into the presentation. A stager will aim to eliminate dark and tight spaces about a home. The layout of furniture should convey comfort and openness. Items in a room that clutter or crowd a space are usually removed. A variety of accessories are used to elevate the appearance of a residence during a home staging, including plants, silk flowers, baskets, pillows, love seats, throw rugs, floor and table lamps, and mirrors.

What Does Home Staging Focus On?

Through home staging, properties are enhanced and improved by the efforts of a professional, who analyzes the best course of action for a specific residence. The goal is to make a home more inviting and appealing to a potential homebuyer, who may otherwise miss out on some of the things that makes the property unique and livable. Often, after a round of staging, the overall value of the property is elevated as repairs, redecoration, renovations, and supplementary landscaping details are added. In cases where a home is vacant, rental furniture may replace the emptiness of a residence.

The Difference Between Home Staging and Home Decorating

Home staging is not, I repeat NOT, home decorating.

Redecorating a home focuses on the seller and their personality. It makes the home more comfortable and usable for you and your family.

Home staging is not concerned with your comfort. In fact, some of the things you'll need to do when staging your home are downright inconvenient for you.

For example, keeping the kitchen counters free of EVERYTHING can mean keeping the coffee maker in a cupboard. In my house, at least, that'd be a major inconvenience.

Pet food bowls need to disappear off the floor too... a most inconvenient situation for fluffy the cat, wouldn't you say?

And family photos and other mementos that might remind a buyer that you actually live there need to be removed too.

Doesn't sound like home decorating anymore, does it?

And all this is hard to do if you love and live in the home. That's why it is often helpful to hire a professional , who will see the home with a visitor's eyes, to stage your home.

San Deigo Home Staging

Home staging instructor Joanne O'Donnell offers courses in home staging in San Diego, and is the main source for this story on home staging from Realty Times.

She points out that home staging is NOT home decorating. "Decorating is optional, staging is mandatory in order to sell the house for the most possible money in the shortest amount of time," she says.

Home staging as a career is being pursued by many people from a variety of backgrounds. Often simply asking your realtor for a recommendation or two will get you a list of people in your area who work as home stagers. There are also a large number of San Deigo companies offering home staging services on the Internet.

Real Estate agents will often hire a stager as part of the selling package as a standard feature (because it is far easier to offer a benefit than explain to home owners that their home needs some serious work).

Or, simply grab a book, detach yourself from your property, and give the 'do it yourself' option a try.

"People don't see that a lot of things that are in their houses are part of themselves and when you try to sell a house you want to make it as neutral as possible, not necessarily in the colors, but in the way it's presented," says Gerin Canin, a lawyer from New York who is transitioning into a home staging career.

The Aim of Home Staging

Over the years, the real estate market has suffered a few ups and downs, which has prompted individuals selling their home to turn towards other methods in an effort to entice buyers. Since there is an increase in the number of homes for sale, every bit of help is greatly needed to set aside a property from the next in order to encourage a purchase. One of the more popular tactics that homeowners consider is home staging, which transforms a residence before it reaches the real estate market.

The aim of home staging is to sell a house as quickly as possible, as well as get top dollar for the property. Some people do not feel investing in such a service is necessary, but for some, the outcome has been more than satisfactory. When it comes to the cost of home staging, prices vary depending on the state or city that you reside at. If the local demand for professionally staged homes is high, you may benefit from competitive prices. Generally, homeowners should expect to pay between $500 and $5,000.

Sprucing up the Exterior and Yard

People buy what they see. If they like what they see, it is of greater worth to them. Their overall perception of the home needs to be positive, favorable, and hopeful – to fit into the unfolding of their dreams. Value is relative – hence the variation in different appraisers’ perceptions. The neighborhood is very important – location, location, location! Make sure that your house matches the standards that are evident when assessing other houses in the vicinity.

The best makeover you can give your house is one that captures its original style. An upgraded facade protects your home from structural damage and gives it an aura of solid quality. To make a good impression from the moment potential buyers pull up to the house is vital. First glimpses of the home will include the exterior, the garden and lawn, roofing or shingles, window frames, trim and the front door – and first impressions count, and they last! Peeling trim or odd exterior colors could lose you their attention before they come inside.

A lush lawn leaves the impression that someone cares about this home. Well-kept homes sell faster than those that aren't. "Curb appeal" is a crucial first impression that can make buyers either wary or eager to step inside. Be sure your garden look great, trash cans and bikes are put away, house numbers are attractive and easy to see, the front door looks awesome (because you've replaced or painted it and maybe updated the hardware), and that you have some attractive potted plants by the door.

Curb Appeal - Make a good first impression.

Anything you do cosmetically to enhance curb appeal will increase the resale value of your house.

Generally the first impression your home makes to potential buyers is on their first 'drive-by'. That first impression can either open or limit your field of potential buyers based on the curb appeal of your home.

A little extra work may mean a difference in how smoothly the sale goes, how much can be asked for your home and how long it will stay on the market. Many homebuyers stretch economically to get into a home, and what you do to make the property more attractive with less work and cost for them, may work favorably to convince them that yours is a more lucrative prospect than the house across the street.

If a house obviously needs repair or maintenance, a buyer may decide to look for something that is in better condition. The good news is that many improvements that have an impact on selling a home aren't very expensive at all. Take great caution if you consider taking on a major renovation project just so that you can sell your property. There are no guarantees that you would recover the costs of a huge overhaul. Just focus on making the home attractive, clean, presentable and well maintained.

Home Staging Blog

If you're about to sell your home, you'll realize more value for your property if you stage it for selling.

What that means, in general, is that you're taking away all those things that make it your home, in order to turn it into a generic, 'dream space' for potential buyers to see and visualize themselves in.

This blog will be for ideas, photos, tips and tricks for doctoring your home (as the Brits call it) to prepare it for sale.