What is Home Staging?

Successful staging is using a Professional Home Stager who is experienced at marketing and decorating techniques to create an environment that buyers want. When you put your house on the market, it becomes a commodity or product.

For a product to sell, it has to be successfully marketed and packaged. The "packaging" element is where 'Dressed To Sell' comes in. We want to create emotional connection points throughout the house so that buyers feel as if this really could be 'their' home. We want them to think, "This is it. This is the one."

So, what does feeling at home look like? It's a combination of many things we are specially trained at incorporating in your home…

1. First Impressions - Room by room we will walk through and take note of our first impressions. What grabs us, what glares at us, and what gives to us a feeling of home?

2. Eliminating Clutter - We will start packing things away in order to create a more open and spacious feel. People buy square footage.

3. Emphasizing the Positives and Downplaying the Negatives - Finding the natural focal points, we will emphasize what we love about the room and hide or detract from the negative aspects.

4. Lighten Up - Focusing on lighting and color, we make each room into a bright, warm, and inviting space that buyers can respond to.
5. Home Buyers Appeal - In order for a buyer to feel at home, they need not be reminded of this being someone else's home. We'll therefore "de-personalize" the space while retaining its warmth.

6. Odors/Cleaning/Repairs - The "dirty work" is sometimes overlooked because you've lived here for so long. Let's get rid of the buyers' mental "repair list" by doing it ourselves.

7. Modernizing - We will update the style so the buyers feel they are getting the latest and greatest.

8. Emotional Connection Points - We want to create the "WOW" factor. This is a huge focus for our strategy. We build these connection points so the buyers subconsciously desire this house.

Notice - The term "Staging" is NOT a federally registered trademark and is commonly used in the industry to describe the practice of preparing homes for sale.

This article was taken from "Dressed to Sell"

If I do these things -what can I expect in return?

Home Staging
Cost$212 - 1,089
Increased sales price-$2,275 - 2,841
Return -169%

Lighten & Brighten
Cost - $86 - 110
Increased sales price - $768 - 935
Return - 769%

Clean & De-Clutter
Cost - $305 - 339
Increased sales price - $2,093 - 2,378
Return - 594%

Fix Plumbing, Electrical
Cost - $338 - 381
Increased Sales Price - $922 - 1,208
Return - 196%

Landscape & Trim
Cost - $432 - 506
Increased Sales Price - $1,594 - 1,839
Return - 266%

Take from "Home Staging Resource"
Kitchen/Bath Upgrades
$1,546 - 2,120
$3,823 - 4,885
138%
83%
Repair Flooring
$1,531 - 1,714
$2,267 - 2,589
50%
62%
Paint Exterior Walls
$2,188 - 2,381
$2,907 - 3,233
34%
57%
Replace Carpeting
$2,602 - 2,765
$3,585 - 3,900
39%
65%
2003 HomeGain Survey of 2,000 real estate agents nationwide found that moderately priced home improvements, ranging from $80 - 2,800, made in preparation for sale actually yield the highest returns when a house is sold.

Top Dollar Guide for Home Selling
& the Staging Process…

1. Pricing the House Right

A Perfectly Targeted Audience - Most buyers who come to your house are good prospects: they are actively shopping for the product you are selling and you're house probably already meets their general criteria.

2. A Captive Audience -

The buyer is in your house and will probably spend up to an hour studying it

3. An Opportunity to Make Multiple Impressions -

Each room gives us the perfect opportunity to make dozens of "first" impressions. With each detail we will move the buyer from looking at your house to evaluating whether it could be HOME.

Homes are Purchased Based on Emotions…Love at First Sight

Only if buyers "feel" as if your house could be home can they determine if it will be - We will depersonalize the space and create "emotional connection points" to actively engage a buyer's mind to imagine how life can be in the house.

Within fifteen seconds buyers develop an attitude toward your house that is reinforced by everything else they encounter - Let's make those fifteen seconds and first impressions positive!

When a house feels as if it could be home, buyers will intuitively reprioritize their list -

We'll accentuate the positive and downplay the negatives in each room. We'll create balance, warmth and cohesion by using easy decorating tricks of the trade.

Buyers Will "Profile" the Sellers In their Buying Decisions…

Neat and organized sellers take care of a home and vice versa - We'll unclutter and clean those areas buyers use to profile "neatness".

Buyers Will View Your Personal Things, Impersonally

If you can't see objectively, you can't package effectively -