Real estate staging is a tool savvy home sellers and good realtors use to market a property.  As with any marketing strategy, staging helps ensure a property is ‘merchandised’ to attract the largest number of prospective buyers.  In a nutshell, it’s all about putting your home’s proverbial ‘best foot’ forward.

Contrary to popular belief staging is much more than depersonalizing and decluttering.  While no one relishes the though of spending money and working countless hours on a property just to turn around and sell; staging can make all the difference between getting people in the door or being ignored.

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Of course, every home seller must decide how much they are willing to do and to invest in the sale of their home.  No one else can make that decision.  But, depending on how dated the property and its decor are, a reasonable staging budget is somewhere between 1/2% to 1% of the anticipated list price.  That usually covers most minor updates, staging props and of course the services of a professional stager.  Changes to infrastructure like flooring, kitchens and baths will obviously cost more.

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Stagers aren’t magicians!  While we have been known to work magic from time to time, our ability to make dramatic transformations in a property is clearly linked to the staging budget set by the seller.  That can apply to both the amount of time working on the project as well as the amount of things we change or add.  Think of it this way.  If the act of staging helps put the best foot forward, the budget for staging buys the shoes!

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While it isn’t necessary to totally renovate a house prior to putting it on the market, the more that’s done to shorten a future buyer’s ‘to-do’ list, the better the chances of selling quickly and for more $$$.

Working with a limited budget, it’s important to focus on the main living areas first which might include a finished basement.

With time or $$$ remaining, focus on the master bedroom, bath and all other bathrooms.

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Finally, if anything is left, turn your attention to guest or kid’s bedrooms since most people can envision the potential of those spaces.

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We just finished staging a nice property in Cary, IL this week.  After some time sourcing a limited amount of staging art, accessories and other props, we arrived at the house ready to pull together work the homeowner had already started.

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While the transformation isn’t always spectacular, the end results are no less impressive.   Using only available furniture, we rearranged each room to maximize it’s visual appeal.  Mixing colorful staging art and accessories with the owner’s decor helped give even more punch to the spaces.  And with over 85% of buyers shopping online first, the listing photos have to be memorable to get them in the door.

Again, staging is all about putting your property’s best foot forward.  If you think about it, nobody remembers Dorothy’s house when it fell into Oz.  (It’s a good thing she wasn’t  trying to sell!)  But, the munchkins sure as heck remember those ruby-red shoes.  The moral of the staging story…. when you’re putting your best foot forward, make sure you’re wearing kick-ass shoes!

Happy Staging from Decor Designs!