So let's talk about "staging" for a minute. You have heard of it in relation to the theater, right? Set the stage, set the mood, and in come the actors. Well, "staging" has become a critical aspect of home sales, especially in the current competitive market.
I was struck by this important tool sellers can use to their advantage this past weekend as I was showing an exquisite and new riverfront home. True, the home was on the river. True, the home was located just a couple hundred feet from the river park and from the wonderful shops and restaurants of the trendy Old Mill District. But there were several areas of the home which, when staged, were apparent but without staging would have been ambiguous. For instance, there were three rooms in the lower level with no closets and no windows! What to do with them? Hmmm. But with lush and precise staging, one became a Tuscan wine room, one housed audio equipment, and one became an inviting theater room that tugged at us so that we did not want to leave! A bedroom was set as a quiet and rich office.
Builders are professionals. They know what a difference excellent staging can make in selling a home for the best price possible. Staging can make us fall in love with a home. Lack of it can make us walk out of a home and never remember anything about it.
So sellers, listen to your Realtors' advice about staging. Pay a few dollars or even a few hundred dollars for staging advice. This can include a professional working with the furnishings you already have in the home or in the case of a vacant home bringing in items to catch the eye of a buyer and suggest the potential of that home for cozy family life. Staging can be as simple as a cookbook on a stand, a pot on the stove and places set for dinner at the breakfast bar plus bathrooms with towels, soap, artificial arrangements of plants and candles. I have even seen in a vacant luxury home a large basket tilted on edge in a bedroom with a jeweled peach quilt spilling out of it to suggest the bed.
If your Realtor does not suggest staging, find one who does. Unless you don't care how long your home is on the market. Does staging guarantee a quick sale? No. But not properly preparing your home for the market will guarantee a lower price and longer time on market.
Oh, and that lovely riverfront home was sold and closes in two weeks, but they are building more in the same area, some on the river and some just above it. Give me a call for a tour of these and others including a recently refurbished townhome overlooking the river in downtown Bend. Very contemporary and lovely.
Or just give me a call for staging advice -- whether to be referred to a Realtor in your area with staging expertise or a consultation at your home in Central Oregon where we can discuss the possibilities of your home.