The desire to sell your house is not enough. Being proactive by preparing your home for sale can translate into a quick sale for your asking price. Keep in mind, no amount of staging will help an over priced home.

My ‘staging tips for sellers’ class is offered throughout the area. Attendees may have a long timeline or are moving quickly. It is never too early to start the process.

 

Step 1: Education

There is a misconception that staging is expensive. When sellers are living in the house while on the market, it is called occupied staging. Every house is different and some homes may require more prep than others. If you stayed on top of updating and refreshing your home, editing may be the only required task. If not, deep cleaning, painting and some repair work may be necessary. A vacant home requires bringing in furniture and accessories so there is more of a monetary investment to setting the stage.

Rose Volaski of Goshen attended a presentation at the office of Griffith-Olivero Realtors. Rose says, “After your staging presentation I began looking at my home with a new set of eyes. I removed rugs, emptied closets, removed the clutter, cleaned and gave the house an open, bright, spacious look.”

 

Step 2: The Staging Consultation

Some future sellers seek a staging consultation to have a game plan. Some Realtors either strongly suggest the consult, while others include one with a stager in their listing package as in the case of Griffith Olivero Realtors.

Rose shares, “When Claudia came to my house for the staging consultation she made many small changes that made a huge difference in almost every room. Simply adding two lamps on our nightstands added height and depth to our bedroom and gave it a whole new look. Rearranging the furniture in our daughter’s room really opened up the space and made the room look so much bigger.”

Step 3: Shopping the home

You may have what you need to set the stage. Rose says, “I laughed when Claudia asked me for serving trays and I was amazed what a great look a nice platter gave to a coffee table. She organized our kitchen with such colorful themes and gave it a whole new fresh look with a little effort. We love it! Who knew two plastic wine glasses could look so amazing on the counter with a bottle of Pellegrino.”

Step 3: Detailing the home

“A fresh coat of paint on the front door and some red pillows made the front of the house and the side deck look brand-new, colorful and inviting. Claudia saw so many things that I could never envisioned and did it with humor and class,” says Rose.

Step 4: Professional listing photos

You’ve done all the work, the house looks great and priced right, all the more reason to use one of the best marketing tools, professional real estate photography. It makes a huge difference in the online presentation as the home is virtually walked through first via the photos.

The bottom line: the cost of staging is less than the first price reduction.

 

Open House:

Eveline White of Griffith Olivero Realtors will be hosting an open house today at The Volaski Home located at 61 Boyd Road in Goshen from 1- 3pm.