YOUR CONDO SITS by a Metro station, and has two huge bathrooms and a great dishwasher. It's going to be a breeze to sell it, right? Maybe not. Besides the housing slump, sellers have to consider how their pads look and feel to potential buyers before putting up a "For Sale" sign.
That's why they're often hiring stagers. These design pros come in and organize, decorate and sometimes clean a property to make it look better to house-hunters.
"Real estate is all about marketing," says Lyric Turner, a professional stager. "If you have $7,000 to invest in your property, you could renovate a bathroom or maybe refinish hardwood floors. But with the same money, you could also stage a three-bedroom house. It affects the entire property, not just one room. It's a total overhaul makeover."
Turner owns Red House Staging and Interiors in D.C. and is an accredited staging professional. She says staging gives sellers some control over the stressful experience of putting their pads on the market. "Three things come into play when you're selling your home," says Turner. "Two of them you have control over; the third is the market. You can control the price, and you can control how it looks. The agents help you determine the correct price. You are responsible for how it looks," Turner says.
For those not sold on the idea of spending money to have someone redecorate a house they're ready to leave, consider this: Stagedhomes.com, a Web site for the industry, claims the average time a U.S. property that hasn't been staged stays on the market is 161 days. Staged homes spend an average of 33 days or less on the market.
That's what happened for 38-year-old Sarah Watkins, who owns U Street's Caramel Boutique. She tried to sell her vacant, sans-furniture 1,060-square-foot condo near the shop in 2005. But after a few months with no nibbles, she decided to rent the place out. Two years later, in September 2007, she was ready to try again.
"I talked to my agent about staging because I was desperate to sell," Watkins says. She hired Turner's company to assist. She suggested Watkins move most of her own furniture back into the empty space. Then Turner worked her magic, creating a more neutral feel to appeal to a wider range of potential buyers. "She strategically placed things in the kitchen," says Watkins. "There was a space between the top of the cabinets and the ceiling, and she put objects up there to make it feel more spacious." Other tricks included arranging furniture in ways that made the rooms look brighter and roomier.
In her new place across the street, Watkins says, "I lived with [nothing but] my futon and a chair for about five weeks, but it was worth it." Watkins had an offer on her one-bedroom condo within two weeks. She sold it for the asking price of $449,000, and says she would ante up for a stager again. "Staging shows the buyer the potential," says Watkins. "When you walk into a vacant space, you can't always see the possibilities."
Stagers can also change the look and feel of still-occupied properties. "People are looking to put their own dreams into your home," says Realtor Steve Bachman of RE/MAX Gateway in Chantilly. "They're not buying your hobbies and photos."
Staging neutralizes a space, helping folks at an open house envision themselves living there someday. When showing clients a very lived-in property, Bachman tells customers: "'When these folks leave, all of this stuff will be gone.' But if you stage it so people don't have to make that mental leap, that's much better."
Such quickie makeovers don't have to cost a whole mortgage payment, either. One can just go for an in-home consultation with a stager (typically $150 to $250 per hour). In an occupied house, a stager will make suggestions, perhaps recommending removing personal belongings or giving options for furniture placement for better flow. Often sellers take it from there, doing the work themselves.
Other times, sellers hire a stager to complete the whole project, which can cost more, depending on many factors. In a vacant space, pros may recommend furniture rental, which can add thousands of dollars to the bill. But sellers almost always recoup that money at the settlement table. A 2003 survey by HomeGain.com (an industry Web site) claims that sellers who stage will see an average return on investment of 343 percent.
Watkins spent about $1,800 to stage her place. "It was more money I was putting out to sell it, but it sold, instead of me paying the mortgage while it stayed vacant," she says.
Many real estate agents believe so strongly in staging that they will bring a stager in as part of their selling package. If sellers shy away from the expense, some agents are willing to work the cost into their contract so that owners don't pay until closing.
Sometimes staging is simply about de-cluttering. Stager Laura Caron, who owns Positively Simplified, a residential organizing company in Burke, Va., says like many things in life, presentation is everything. "You don't want to open the linen closet and see dishes in there. That sends the message that there is not enough room in the kitchen," she says.
"I tell people that whenever a buyer opens the door, it needs to look like a store," says Caron, who says staging something as small as a closet goes a long way toward luring potential buyers. "When closets are beautifully colorized, with nothing on the floor and everything sorted in length order, it sends a powerful message."
But there is such a thing as cleaning up your place too much before trying to unload it. Turner says kitchens are a good example.
There's been something driven into people about decluttering counter tops, and then they look too vacant. There's nothing left to catch the eye. Often, I tell people to add stuff back into the kitchen, like a decorative bowl or some nice cookbooks."
And what about those makeover TV shows like "Flip This House" and "Get It Sold" (see page 3)? Can they teach you how to DIY? Maybe. "I watch 'em all the time," says Realtor Lance Horsley of Long & Foster in D.C. "But being able to translate it into your own space is a different thing." Horsley says staging helps sellers hide a property's flaws and accent its strong points, which can be tough to do. "I think we can learn something from them, but I can't watch a program and then go back and redo my house."
Some people hire stagers even if they aren't selling. They may just like the clean look it produces or yearn to live in a house as fresh and uncluttered as a Pottery Barn catalog.
Turner says stagers often offer consultations to homeowners who have no intention of selling, but she warns, "The way you live in a home and the way you stage a home you're trying to sell are very different. Everything that is there in a staging is for decor, and that's not a practical way to live."
But she agrees there are ideas to take away from a stager, like how to minimize clutter, make a better traffic flow or create spa-like baths or colorful kitchens.
No matter why they consult stagers, homeowners who use stagers should be prepared to take the advice they're given. Turner says nothing is worse than a reluctant client.
"All I'm asking people to do is invest a little bit of money, maybe buy some new bedding, throw pillows and candles," she says. "I tell them to look at staging as an investment. You'll get to keep these things when you're done and take them to your new home."
Written by Express contributor Lynn Thorne
Photos courtesy Red House Staging
Brought to you by Sharon Kreighbaum, Staged Makeovers
