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Winter 2007 / 2008
Staging
Myths Dispelled
It’s
that time of year again when more people
will be putting their house up for sale.
Given our market conditions, logic would say
that sellers might want to do all that they
can to differentiate their house. One may
think that after all of the information
shared about staging in the press and other
media, the decision to stage would be an
easy one. Yet, I am still getting calls
from potential clients that decide not to
stage in the end. I thought it might be
helpful to dispel some of the myths of
staging for those who “just aren’t
convinced” as this seasons topic.
Myth 1:
Staging is just too expensive and I’ve
already been making double house payments
for months.
Here, the person has decided that staging is
a “cost” versus an “investment”. Some
people are hesitant to “spend the additional
money”. Granted, doing a full stage of a
3,000 square foot house can sometimes run
over $2,000 per month in rental alone. But
is staging an additional cost or genuine
investment in selling your house? When the
investment in staging can get the house sold
faster it’s a much better situation than
continuing the cost of multiple mortgage
payments or leaving earnest money behind.
Start with a Staging Consult that generally
runs a couple hundred dollars and you can
decide to do the work yourself or make the
investment in more staging from there.
Myth 2:
I’ve seen or
heard what stagers do and I can do that
myself.
Maybe or maybe not. If your house has been
on the market over three months and you
think that it is in great market shape, you
may want to reconsider your position.
People want “move in ready” homes and are
getting them. It is very difficult for
people to see through the “faults” of their
own house, especially if it has been their
home for a long time. A professional second
opinion could be just what the buyer
ordered.
Myth 3:
I know I need
staging but I don’t want strangers coming
into my house and telling me what to do.
Strangers, in the form of buyers, are
walking through your house every time you
have a showing. If you are that
uncomfortable, you can go to
www.StagerOnline.com and get an online
consultation of your rooms. As far as
“telling”, a stager makes the suggestions
for improvement, it’s up to you to decide
what should be done in the end. Just
remember as you listen to the stager’s
suggestions that they are trying to turn
your “home” into a “house for sale” so you
may not like the suggestions, but you should
at least consider them.
Myth 4:
People don’t mind looking at an empty house,
it gives them a clean pallet for imagining
what their furnishings would look like in
the space.
Quite the opposite, the majority of people
need some help in visioning the
possibilities of a space. If you are
leaving your house empty for sale, make sure
that you have at least cleaned out the dirt
and dust and patched all holes. These items
become focal points in an empty space with
nothing else to look at.
Myth 5:
From what I’ve
heard, stagers hide “faults” of the house
and I don’t want to be dishonest about what
I’m selling.
It
seems the biggest “argument” here is that a
trick of staging is hiding wall cracks with
artwork or bad floors with rugs. I’m sure
that there are stagers out there who may
recommend such actions, but I and any of the
stagers that I know suggest repairing the
“faults” of the house rather than hiding
them. My policy is that it’s much better to
be honest upfront than to have to pay
later. If your stager is suggesting you
camouflage rather than correct issues, you
may want to hire a different professional.
See previous Andrea's Antidotes:
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