What Is HOME STAGING?

The title of "STAGED Home" is given to homes which have been professionally prepared for the selling process. In the Staging world we have a saying:

"The way you live in your Home, and the way you market and sell your House, are two different things."

Once you decide to sell your home, it automatically becomes a product; bricks and mortar. Thus, you must market your house just like any other product for sale.

	What STAGING Involves
	Pictures
	Testimonials From Our Clients

 Before Buyers decide to buy, they need to mentally move their own things into a home. If a home has too much or too little in it, it is difficult for most buyers to visualize how their own things will look in the home.

“Buyers only know what they see... Not the way it’s going to be!”

With that in mind, here are the 10 keys to Home Staging...

10 Keys to Home Staging:

Note: The following are general tips for homes of varying price and location. To receive a personalized Home STAGING consultation that is customized for your own home from Flav or Teresa please contact us.

1. A deep cleaning!

Scrub like you've never scrubbed before! Buyers will be looking in every nook and cranny when they come for a viewing so you better have the floors, walls, cub ports clean and tidy.

2. Getting rid of clutter

Go from to room and think to yourself, "Do I have cutter that I can remove?". By moving or removing items from your house it makes each room look bigger, allowing the buyers to get an idea of how big the house REALLY is.

3. Depersonalizing

Buyers are not interested in your fine china set, or your race car collection that spans over 2 rooms. They want to be impressed with the size of each room, how clean everything is and certainly not be distracted by a hundred family photos of grandpa and all twenty seven cousins!

4. Odours must GO!

Overpowering cooking smells. Rotten food or stale garbage. Damp or musky smells and unpleasant pet odours! Most buyers will be immediately turned off as soon as they smell something out of the ordinary once they've entered your house. We would strongly advise you to and remedy any unpleasant smells in the house.

5. Touch-ups and accessories

As a seller you may feel you can't spend much money to update your house but there are many improvements you can make that won't cost a lot of money and that will bring a much higher sales price. A fresh coat of paint is relatively inexpensive but will add a lot of impact. New window treatments, fresh flowers, green plants all pack a lot of punch without breaking the wallet.

6. Maintaining

As a SELLER you must commit to keeping the home spotless as long as it's on the market. The day someone leaves a dirty towel on the bathroom floor will be the day a prospective buyer walks through. Granted it's not easy to keep a home clean while you are living there especially with small children, but the payoff will be a quicker sale at a higher price.

7. Staging 1st, listing 2nd

If the Staging Process is done properly, the house should not be on the market before all of the Staging is complete. This included repairs, painting, cleaning, etc. There is nothing worse then having a buyer through the home who otherwise might have LOVED the home, for them only to see the bathroom being renovated and the bedrooms being re-carpeted. Most buyers cannot see, "The Way it is Going To Be" and will always remember the house as the one "without the toilet" and "bare floors in the bedrooms", because the repairs had not all yet been done.

8. Don't forget the outside!

Curb appeal is crucial! As a seller you want any buyer to fall in love with the house as soon as they see it from the street. Keep the lawn trimmed, plants some colourful flowers or bushes, and always keep the driveway clear of snow in the winter! All porches and decks should be swept and inviting.

9. Create a mood

Most of the things discussed in this section require visual attention. We did touch upon how important smells (or the lack of) are, but don't forget sound. Nothing is more soothing for a buyer then to walk out into your backyard and to hear the sound of a waterfall. If that's a little over the top for you then bring a sense of serenity by playing some soft music during Open Houses and for any upcoming showings.

10. Empty house? Add some life!

Vacant houses are much tougher to sell, for the simple reason that prospective buyer have a hard time envisioning their own furniture and belongings in a house where there are none. The house looks empty, barren and often sterile. The easiest solution is to bring in some furniture and to the best of your ability add some "life" to the house to give an impression that someone could be living there.

This bedroom had 3 walls covered with frames and pictures. We removed all the family pictures off the wall and the small knick-knacks off the dresser. This way the buyer will spend more time looking at the size of the room as opposed to the wall ornaments.

This kitchen had limited counter space, and was being overrun by plants, vines and clutter. We stripped everything off the fridge, as well as removed most of the plant life, no to mention showing the countertops to their full potential! Only the bear essentials.

Bathrooms need to shine! The day-to-day items the owner needed were all placed in a basket under the counter for easy access leaving a clear counter above. Now both sinks are easy to see as well as the true length of the beautiful counter and mirror! The plant and soap dispenser (never use a soap dish) was added.

Removed the teddy bear from the bed and the floor rug to leave a clean look. Always leave window coverings open or drawn, and the closet should always be closed, yet neat and tidy (believe me, buyers will definitely look inside).

"As part of the home sellers experience my wife and I were asked if we would be interested in “staging” our home.  Flav was quick to identify the pros of staging to us succinctly: 1) there was a greater likelihood of selling our home quickly, and 2) we would be likely to receive a higher percentage of our asking price.  Very quickly we agreed. 

Staging our home involved redecorating and “de-cluttering” throughout our entire home. Staging forced us to maintain a very clean home, which required some effort, and put us at a slight inconvenience because many of our daily items were relocated.  However, my wife and I agreed that our home seemed much more spacious, and appealing to a wider audience of buyers. The end result of staging was very positive for us. We sold our house to the first person who viewed our home at 99.5% of our asking price.  If you are serious about selling your home, we highly recommend consulting with Flav Onsen whose staging advice and real estate services were invaluable to us."

Thank You Flav,

Gerard and Gillian Reuss, April 2004.

"WOW is all we can say. Teresa and Flav were able to see things which we had gotten so accustomed to seeing and overlooked when getting our house ready. We realized from the start that their advice, experience and input would pay off, and after 12 days of being on the market we received two offers, of which we accepted one at 98.4% of our original asking price! We couldn't be more thrilled with Flav and Teresa's help and advice during the STAGING and selling process."

Mark Gagne, and Chris Modlemayer, March 2004.

"I would like to express my satisfaction with the services received from
Teresa and Flav Onsen during the Staging and listing process of our house.

The techniques used to organize and display the home helped to attract buyer
interest. The furniture was arranged in a such a fashion to open up and utilize the space more efficiently. The suggestions to upgrade certain articles in home such as flooring and paint also gave the house the potential to sell for a higher asking price.

Investing some money and time into the house before listing was definitely
worth the effort.  We were able to close well in advance and enjoy the extra time to plan our move."

Tino Desideri, May 2004.

Call us today for a FREE Home Evaluation and a Staging Consultation with no obligation!
(519) 578-7300