We're putting our home on the market on Cinco de Mayo! Our realtor recommended a stager, but I am resisting the recommendations of Restoration Hardware fixtures and Heritage Collection paint chips. If I just hide the toys and clean like crazy, is that enough? Have others gone the staging route or decided not to? What were the results?
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Well, we didn't hire a "professional" stager, but I did spend a full month doing projects around our house. I painted the living room a cool color (too bad I didn't get to enjoy it for long...), took down some out of date curtains and put away a lot of clutter. I bought simple woven boxes at Target and hid a lot of 'clutter' in those. they looked nice when artfully arranged on our bookshelves, which had been cleared of 1/3 of the books (put in boxes in the basement). I got a new area rug for the living room, and totally cleared the counters in the kitchen, save for a nice fruit bowl.Also, I packed away about 1/2 of my kitchen stuff to make the cupboards appear larger. Anyhow, the list goes on...but the point is that our house sold in 6 days and we had multiple offers and lots of interest. The house showed well and this was in a down market (where things were sitting for up to 2 months). So my advice is to look online, you can find lots of staging "tips" -- take most of it with a grain of salt, but take to heart some of the info about de-cluttering and how to make your house seem bigger/less cramped with stuff. Good luck!
Posted by: Rachel | April 16, 2007 at 09:51 PM
My husband and I own a real estate company and based on experience, agree with Rachel's advice. Just to add a few things:
I would definately get a professional deep clean through out, making sure carpets and windows are included. Also, look at the house from the curb. Just cleaning up the entrance and adding some color interest outside and/or some fresh bark dust makes a huge difference. You'd be surprised how many clients just drive by and don't want to go in based on outside alone.
Good luck!
Posted by: Rosanne | April 16, 2007 at 10:51 PM
I took a similar route as Rachel. Knowing though that my two children at the time would quickly destroy any deep cleaning and because we had the option, we actually moved to temporary housing while it was on the market. We self-staged it, deep cleaning carpets, painting a few areas, and taking out any clunky furniture and all the extras to make it appear more spacious (if I'd only trown most of that away when I realized I could live without it!). It worked well for us and I enjoyed putting together the staging myself!
Posted by: Kristi | April 16, 2007 at 11:35 PM
I agree with all of the comments. We removed probably half of the content of our old house to make all the rooms look larger. We also stained our huge deck since we knew that would be a selling point. We cleaned like mad, touched up paint, and always had fresh flowers in the kitchen. We also added cute flowers to the steps leading to the front door...great curb appeal. Our house sold in 48 hours after 17 viewings!! Yes...we ended up never being in our house for those 48 hours since we constantly had people wanting to look at it. But it was all worth it to sell it and move to something larger! :)
Posted by: Sarah's Mommy | April 17, 2007 at 05:19 AM
We last sold a house in a different city, where getting 97% of the asking price was good, and taking five weeks to sell meant your house sold 'quickly'.
At the time, we had no kids and very little crap - I mean, stuff - so it was relatively easy to keep it very tidy. We did a deep clean, and we had only been in it two years during which time we painted the entire upstairs, so we didn't have much to do but touchups. We did put in a new tile floor in the bathroom, and new (relatively cheap) light fixtures and faucets. All DIY projects
A small on-the-market tip: get some flushable bathroom wipes and run those around the bathroom before you leave each day. I don't normally use that kind of chemical, etc., and I haven't since, but it did help to keep the shine on the sink. Oh, and rather than air fresheners, we warmed some lavender oil in a diffuser to make the place smell nice.
Posted by: Betsy | April 17, 2007 at 07:05 AM
I think some things to consider (this is just what I've gleamed from listening to my husband who's a realtor) also are to be careful if you decide to paint. Our last house was a very cute 20's cape cod that was a different color in every room. We loved it but realized that everyone has different tastes, so we went with a pretty neutral (beigey) color in the big rooms to draw attention to the coved ceilings and fireplace. Also, will your realtor pay for the stager? If needed, my husband's team will pay for it (it helped that their assistant was an interior designer, but now that she's on maternity leave they hire someone else)and they try to first work with items the homeowner has. It's amazing how rearranging the furniture will often open up the whole room. Or the stager will pick items to stay out and others to store. Often it takes a fresh eye and perspective. So there's my two cents!
Good luck!
Posted by: melanie | April 17, 2007 at 09:13 AM
I did use a stager when I sold two "prekid" houses in the Bay Area. It was amazing what they did to the place including turning a way too small guest room into a darling nursery. The stager even had a little red wagon in my backyard! Deep cleaned, new hardware (it was needed) and I was able to move out. Both houses sold in under a week for over asking. But that was a very different market. I agree with the "fresh eyes" comments - that was key. Good luck.
Posted by: Betsy | April 17, 2007 at 12:30 PM
We've not hired a professional, but have done a bit of staging on 2 homes and had great luck with them both selling within days or at the open house. A few additional suggestions from our last realtor:
--Remove your pets (and any sign of them) for the open house and any showings if possible. Lots of people are allergic, some have religious beliefs against living with animals, and some will look for extra wear and tear on carpets, drapes, etc if they think an animal has been living in the home. We packed up 2 cats, a litter box and a baby for our open house and it was a huge pain, but I'm glad we did it.
--New front door mat, hose down front entry way of house, make sure front door is clean and the hardware is clean, pots of flowers, fresh mulch and a freshly mowed/edged lawn.
--Clean our and organize closets so that everything is nicely folded and leave some extra room to give the feeling of plentiful storage space.
--Spotless kitchen--clear off counters, scrub stove and oven, clean out and organize fridge, run the dishwasher so that it's clean inside, organized cabinets.
--Make sure that each room has a clear purpose--that office/guest room/workout room should only be one thing unless it's large enough that you can clearly define it without making it looked cramped. We had a very large living room in the basement where we watched TV and I had a craft/sewing table set up and she actually had me stage the craft table to make it clear that the room was large enough to serve more than one purpose easily.
--Open blinds/curtains and turn on all of the lights, if weather permits, open a few windows to let fresh air in, unless you live on a traveled road--if so, turn on the air conditioning to mask outside noise.
Posted by: NoPo Mama | April 17, 2007 at 01:40 PM
can't help but toss in my two cents... it's a bit of a push for my business, and i have to live with that. ;o) i offer "styling for sale" which is a less expensive route than traditional staging... i'm the kind of person who tells you when you have broccoli in your teeth - nobody wants to hear it, but you sure appreciate it after i've told you. i walk through your home, room by room, and leave you with a specific punch list of things to remove, move or replace before you list your home. new paint colors, fresh furniture arrangements, better uses of space... it's been proven effective by numerous area realtors, and while most of the homeowners look at me with distain as i come through the door with my "straightforward" comments, they're hugging me as i leave, and thankful once the SOLD sign goes up. just another option as you dive in to the game of selling your house! let me know if i can help! amy@designforhome.net
Posted by: Amy | April 17, 2007 at 03:36 PM
Wow, what brilliant suggestions! I greatly appreciate all the advice. Selling a house in Portland is whole different ball game from the one we sold in the Bay Area--we had crowds running through our house every day! So, I've begun madly cleaning up the place, and wonder if someone can recommend a company that does the deep cleaning that a couple of you mentioned.
Posted by: NinaNina | April 19, 2007 at 10:07 AM