Family Room Staging Emphasizes Comfortable

Staging is the new catch phrase for faster sales

Today, especially when the real estate market is contracting, it is important to take advantage of every trick in the book to get your home sold as fast as possible and for top dollar.

One of those tricks is called staging.

Staging is the processing of making your house seem bigger, brighter, cleaner and ideal dwelling for almost any prospect that inspects your property.

Staging is not designed to make your house more liveable for you and your family. In fact, it is a bit of hardship to live in a staged house during the selling process.

You and your family will literaly be out of your comfort zone. Everything that makes your house your home will for the most part be gone. But rememer: this is only temporary. Believe me, having your house on the market is a real drag anyway. Your agent will give you short notice that a "hot prospect" wants to see it RIGHT NOW! Not when you're comfortable, but now. So anything that shortens that "on the market" time will be worth it, even if it means a little more temporary discomfort.

Staging is more than just cleaning, painting, and making repairs.

Once your house has been cleaned, painted, and repaired, and before it is ready to be shown to the public, this is when staging is implemented. Staging is all about the details of how the house is presented.

In a nutshell, staging is reducing the furnishings to bare minimums and creating vignettes inside each room and perhaps multiple vignettes for certain rooms. A completely empty room has no life. A room that is filled with personal photos, hobby items, etc. is filled with so much homeowner personality that a prospect feels like they are intruding into someone's private life. This is not what a house seller wants. HOUSE SELLERS WANT PROSPECTS TO SEE THEMSELVES IN THE HOUSE, NOT HOW SOMEONE ELSE LIVES.

Common accessories might include:

Mirrors

Cut flowers in attractive vases

Fresh fruit

Up lights, table lamps and floor lights

Ottomans

Pillows & baskets

Scented soap bars

Fresh towels

Ironed crisp bed sheets