Staging a home for sale can make centsAsbury Park PressHer company offers its clients home staging as part of its service. Kathryn O’Donnell of Red Bank, a professional home stager, works…br/br/
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“June Bloom” 2009 Staging Show HouseNew Jersey Monthly, NJMembers of RESA-NJ will decorate the home to showcase their home staging talents, and to demonstrate how staging a home for sale can generate…br/br/
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“You can rent movies. You can rent an apartment. If you live or work in a street-parking desert, you can even rent a space for your ride. So why not add luxury to that list?” This is what Kyra Kyles wrote the introduction to her cover story in last weeks Red Eye Newspaper.(For those of you that don’t know what a “Red Eye” is… well it is the hip urban free daily newspaper published by the Tribune Corporation here in Chicago.)

The article, entitled “Rent An Image” looked at some of the interesting luxury items that are available to rent in Chicago-land. Well, I have to admit I never considered the props we have available as ubber LUXURY items, like the Austin Martin automobiles and the Prada handbags the article spoke of. But Kyra who interviewed Real Estaging for a side bar story entitled “Go ahead and rent that furniture”,(Click on image on lwft to enlarge) pointed out the fact that props can be rented to help you sell your home for more money(Click on image at left to read it). Besides making homes look more appealing, staging has helped sellers make more money when they RAISED the asking price. as well as help to sell homes faster… and considering “time is money” staging a home should be a considered in this current market.

Most home seller’s think that staging props are rented for use ONLY in and for vacant property sales. Seller’s don’t know that some home stager’s can also rent just the right piece or pieces to finish off the look and appeal of their property as they live there while it on the market. The main advantage of renting is the fact that the seller need not spend the time to shop for decorative items or spend full retail prices to buy those items. The other VERY important advantage of using a stager’s props is the fact that a stager knows to use pieces that are UNDERSTATED. When selling your home, your house needs to be the star, not the stuff in it. Experienced stagers know how to create a “put together look” with out our stuff ending up being a beautiful distraction.

So thanks Red Eye… your unique story angle helps to make another fine point about home staging.

Me

PS: If you would like to see an entire PDF sample of Chicago’s Red Eye Newspaper… CLICK HERE.

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I often now receive inquires about home staging, from home sellers all over the country, that typically start by asking a question such as, “Can you give me a little information on how staging works and what staging a home costs?” Since so many start their inquiry with the same question, I thought it would be helpful to answer with what I call the “A-B-C’s of Home Staging.”

A is for ABOUT home staging in general. Actually, if you are going to stage your property you need to know that it is ABOUT a 2 step process. The first step is the “prepping of the property. Prepping the house basically attends to the conditional issues that need to be repaired, cleaned and/or updated. The second step is ABOUT the “pretty visual” that people think of when they think of home staging. This step has to do with the physical setting/arranging of the furnishings and/or accessories within a house. The combined goal of the 2 steps is to create a house that shows it best and ultimately will draw the interest of the widest buying demographic possible.

B is for BASIC types of staging services. While there are 6 Basic types of staging services, it is important to note that all stagers offer all six. The services a stager offers the better it is for you. Since you actually won’t know what you will need until the stager visits for the first time, a stager that provides more service types is better equipped to guide you based on your needs and not cut short the impact of staging because of their own limitations.

The 6 BASIC staging service types are:

1. Consult Staging: This type of staging solely taps into a Stager’s knowledge. First focusing on the condition of a home, a Stager visits a property to meticulously instruct on all that must be done to best prep and then set the property for market.
2. Re-Arrange Staging: This type of services relies on both the Stager’s knowledge and their physical labor. Once a home’s conditional needs are met, a Stager arranges the property by physically setting it using only the seller’s existing furniture and decorative accessories.
3. Enhance Staging: Again, once conditional issues are addressed, the Stager will then set the interior space. But not only are the existing furniture and accessories used, but the Stager will bring and blend in decorative accessories and/or furniture from their inventory. These “props” are loaned or rented to the seller while the home is for sale.
4. Reseller Vacant Staging: When a “preowned” house is vacant, there is not much else to look at, conditional issues and concerns are amplified and ultimately fixated on by buyers. So while it is important that conditional needs be addressed, a Stager is hired to then maximize the home’s visual appeal by fully setting it with the appropriate furnishings and accessorizes.
5. Rehab Vacant Staging: When conditional issues throughout a older property are repaired and updated to today’s trends, a Stager is hired to then maximize the home’s visual appeal by fully setting it with the appropriate furnishings and accessorizes.
6. Model Vacant Staging: While conditional in new construction is not an issue, “life-styling” is. Models typically rely more on projecting a “life-styled” visual appeal then a preowned vacant. A good Stager understands and designs within a specific life-style marketing concept when furnishing, accessorizing and setting a vacant spec / model property.

C is for COST to hire a home stager. What hiring costs actually are depends on how much Talent (knowledge), Time (physical labor) and Treasure (props) a stager provides. If a seller has a limited amount to spend, then the best value a stager can provide is the Consult. For as little as $100 (in some markets) a Stager can be hired to scrutinize a property and provide professional staging advice and guidance. From there it is realistic to expect to pay anywhere from $35 to $75 per hour for a stager’s services. As for props, the fees for renting these items will vary based on just what is being rented and the length of time the items are being rented for.

Sellers are not only realizing the cost of staging will pay off, but actually ARE benefiting from making the investment. Let’s face it; if “time is money” then reduced market time is a great return on investment. So regardless of staging solution proposed, a good stager will do all they can to maximize the return on a seller’s staging budget so that the house sells… 1-2-3.

So there you have it, today’s blog lesson on the A-B-C’s and 1-2-3’s of home staging.

Staging It Forward…
Me

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As the unofficial ‘queen of vacants’ on Long Island, I love the challenge of working with the seller’s own furniture and accessories.  For this particular home, we simply added a mirror, 2 framed prints, some window treatments, 5 accent pillows and faux greenery.

When the seller upgraded the kitchen, he enlarged the space and, as a result, ended up with this small, windowless ’Living Room’.  This is the first room that you saw when you walked into the Entry Hall.  Before staging, it wasn’t a defined space but, rather, was used as a storage space.

We ‘borrowed’ a chair from the Den, ’spiffed up’ a console table with Old English scratch cover and turned it into a writing desk, pulled up the rug & brought in a smaller area rug from another room, hung artwork that we found in the house and the purchased mirror (Homes & Garden $40 at Walmart) to add depth and reflective light to the room, brought in a console cabinet that was in the Dining Room, and added a lamp from the Master Bedroom and various accessories (including 2 purchased faux plants from Walmart and a $8 throw pillow from Christmas Tree Shops).

Here are a few more ‘after’ views:

The Dining Room only needed some ‘light staging’.  We cleared out the console cabinet, shelf unit, 2 chairs, a table leaf, and the parrot print on the wall.  We also de-cluttered the china closet and table. 

 We added new matching prints ($5 each at Walmart!) and potted orchards to add some color.

The Den was a bit of a challenge because the sofa had to stay.  We removed the area rug and replaced it with a cream-colored shag to coordinate with the cream-colored chair that we brought in from the old Living Room.  2 purchased accent pillows and greenery were added while the mantle was decluttered and then enhanced with candlesticks that were found in another part of the house.  The sheer curtains were removed in order to open the view and a framed print belonging to the owner was hung over the sofa.  Sadly, the tv had to stay and we left instructions for the owner to reposition it in the corner.

Here are some before and afters of the dining area in the kitchen:

As you can see from the photos above, simple changes make all the difference when presenting a house for sale.  This ‘product’ is now ready to compete with similar houses in the Huntington area that are currently on the market.

At Staged 2 Sell we ’set the stage for your successful sale’!

Val Allocco, a certified (HSE), professional Home Stager, is the founder & owner of Staged 2 Sell NY which was established in early 2006 and serves all of Long Island (Nassau and SuffolkCounties) as well as the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens.  She is also the Metro New York Chapter President and Central Long Island Chapter President of ASHSR (American Society of Home Stagers and Redesigners).

Val has taught Adult Education courses on “Staging Your Home To Sell” and has also been a featured speaker at numerous Home Selling Seminars on, and around, Long Island.  She is available for seminars and other real estate related presentations and can be reached at 516-982-2671.

Please visit www.staged2sellny.com for more information and examples of our work.

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