Home Staging Tips
and Home Selling Advice
How to Get Your Home Ready
to Sell: Should You Hire a Home Stager?
By Jeanette Joy Fisher
Although it's not a new
concept, staging your home is an important part of
getting it sold--and for top dollar. Traditionally,
homeowners themselves have been responsible for making
their homes presentable for showing, but with homes
costing more and competition getting stiffer as the
real estate market softens, that trend is changing.
If you're hoping to get a quick sale and a good price
for your home, especially if it’s in a premium area,
you may want to consider hiring a home stager to help.
They're knowledgeable at preparing houses for resale
and can provide expert advice on the things that will
help you accomplish your goals. A home stager will
generally help eliminate excess clutter, arrange
furniture attractively and efficiently, and offer
suggestions on curb appeal, since enticing buyers into
your home is the first step toward getting it sold.
Traditional wisdom says that buyers make up their mind
about a home within the first ten seconds after
stepping through the front door, but even that figure
may be a bit optimistic. Most of the time, buyers form
an impression, positive or negative, the moment they
pull up to the curb or into your driveway. That leaves
very little room for error.
To locate a home stager, check your phone book, ask
for referrals from friends and neighbors, or check
with a real estate company. For expensive homes, some
companies will even bring in a home stager as part of
their service to their sellers.
To decide if a home stager's services will be cost
effective for you, ask for an estimate. Most will
visit your home and give you one free, and it's
usually a quick process. Then, unless something
unusual and unforeseen is encountered, their estimate
will be relatively accurate. As with any service, it’s
worthwhile to get several estimates, because they may
vary considerably. Some will give you a flat rate,
while others estimate jobs by the hour. Ask how fees
are determined and when payment is expected. The
higher your home's asking price, the more you can
generally expect to pay for a home stager's services.
In some cases, home stagers will even rent furniture
to make your rooms more attractive, but your home will
normally have to be in a fairly high price range
before that type of service will be cost effective.
However, the growing popularity of home stagers
suggests that their services are generally worthwhile,
both in quicker sales and higher sales prices.
Get your home ready to sell. Use Design Psychology
strategies for home staging and, as Emeril says: "Kick
it up a notch!"
P. S.
Home Stagers,
send me your information for our upcoming database of
home stagers to share with people who call me all the
time looking for home staging help.
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