STAGING VERSUS DECORATING

First, what is it?





Staging is a process whereby an Accredited Staging Professional (ASP) visits your home and assesses how a potential buyer might see your home. After an initial consultation with the home owner, the ASP maps out what needs to be done to the home to get it ready for sale. There are two options, you as a homeowner can pay for the consultaiton and do the work yourself. or, you can pay the ASP to manage the staging, from recommending a painter if needed, recommending a moving company to move the furniture, etc.



As an Accredited Staging Professional/Realtor, I work with my clients to prepare their homes for sale prior to listing the houses. It is a benefit I provide to my sellers as their agent. Usually, the homeowner and I work together to get the home ready.



I am discovering there is some misunderstanding as to what staging is. Many home owners paid an interior decorator to decorate their home and might be offended by an ASP's comments on preparing their home for sale. In most cases, the owners who used a decorator indeed have a beautiful home. And, in general, the homes are not too cluttered. As a stager, our approach is to use what an owner has in the home to depersonalize the home for the buyer. And, thus, my eye is vastly different than that of a decorator. I normally do not add any items to the home unless the home is vacant. It is also very difficult to stage your now home without a trained stager to help you.



Second, why do it?



STAGING WORKS!.............In 2010, every home I staged received an offer within 35 days (which is the national average for staged homes).  And today the selling cycle is much faster.