Staging In The News at Stage Two Sell
Title: Stage to sell
Published in: Star Gazette Twin Tiers Home Elmira NY
Authored by: Martha Horton 2/03/2008
One of the hottest trends in residential real estate today is home staging -- the detailed preparation of a home to help it sell faster and for more money.
The phrase "home staging" was coined by Barb Schwartz, a former Realtor and interior designer in Washington state. She formalized her ideas into a trademarked business, Staged Homes, 30 years ago, and in the past decade has personally staged 3,000 homes in Washington and California.
Schwartz also developed a system for training others to stage homes, with credentials for completing the course: Accredited Staging Professional. The first ASP in the Twin Tiers is Debra Landy of Sayre.
Interestingly, Deb acquired a background in "staging" as a child: Her parents were involved in community theater, and she loved to watch the transformation of a bare stage into a set that perfectly accommodated the action and ambience of a particular play and helped "sell" it to the audience.
Deb is originally from Bethesda, Md., and earned a master's degree in elementary education/childhood development at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania. While in college she met her husband, Joe, who was attending Penn State Dickinson School of Law in Carlisle, Pa.
Deb began her teaching career in York, Pa., and when Joe joined his father in the Landy & Landy law firm in Sayre, she taught in Owego. Deb later stayed home to raise the couple's four daughters, and for 12 years was a Discovery Toys consultant. She loved working with young mothers and valued the direct sales experience as well. Deb also served as a volunteer in the Guidance Department at Notre Dame High School in Elmira.
Gardening is a passion with Deb. She became a Master Gardener through Cornell Cooperative Extension and took courses in the Landscape Design Program at the Professional Career Development Institute in Norcross, Ga. Deb founded the Valley Garden Club and spearheaded several community garden projects.
Deb discovered Staged Homes on the Internet. She was intrigued, investigated the business and decided to take the training. She earned her ASP accreditation and also certification in the International Association of Home Staging Professionals (IASP). She has opened her own business, Stage Two Sell, referring to the two places to keep in mind when marketing a house: inside and curbside.
Why bother staging your home?
Deb responds that the market is very competitive now, with more homes for sale than there are buyers for them. Homeowners may spend 1 percent to 3 percent of the home's price on staging ("Less than the first price reduction," Deb points out), but staged homes, on average, sell for 6 percent more than unstaged homes.
There's also the matter of time. Deb says that 93 percent of ASP staged homes sell in about a month. These homes spend 33 days or less on market, compared to an average of 161 days for non-staged homes. Another consideration is the fact that homes are marketed on the Internet now, with potential buyers making preliminary choices based on photographs and video tours. If your home doesn't measure up in the photos, many people won't even come to see it in person -- "So it has to look good from the get-go," Deb says.
Can't homeowners just spruce up on their own?
Of course. Homeowners can get plenty of good ideas from television home decorating shows and home magazines, Deb concedes. "But it never hurts to get a fresh eye. It's tough to be objective about your own home. You have to change your mindset. Instead of viewing your home as the place you live, you have to look at it as a house to sell.
"Decorating makes a home personal; staging depersonalizes it," Debra says, "making it easier for potential buyers to imagine themselves living there."
Techniques employed by Home Stagers: "The C's."
Most important is that the home be clean -- dust-free floors, lint-free upholstery, shining windows, vacuumed carpets -- and free of unpleasant odors. Deb repeats a phrase popular with Realtors: "If you can smell it, we can't sell it."
Next is clutter -- "Get rid of it," Deb says. "I tell people, 'You're going to be packing anyway -- start now and store the boxes until you move.'" She advises home sellers, "Think spacious -- no excess furniture, no toys on the floor, closets only half full, shelves not crammed with books and collections, pillows not piled on the sofa."
Consider color. Walls should be painted or papered in subtle shades that will harmonize with many people's existing furnishings. You and your friends may think germanium red walls in the dining room are smashing -- and so may some potential buyers -- but selling is a numbers game, and the majority of people will be afraid of the bold color. "You're selling your space, not your taste," Deb says.
Some of the decorating features that are most distinctive and give your home personality may turn off potential buyers. And that's when another "c" comes in: compromise. "It's often a difficult call," Deb says. Examples might be a 150-year-old farmhouse where the homeowner has enhanced her country kitchen with a stenciled border of Early American designs, or a turn-of-the-century home with typically dark floral Victorian wallpaper: "Sometimes, you just take your chances that folks interested in that style of home will appreciate those features -- or at least be willing to live with them for a while," Deb says.
But your prized collection of teddy bears, the kids' old soccer trophies and the Elvis lamp will have to go into storage.
Still another "c" is for creativity. While you've placed furnishings to accommodate your use of the home, the stager may move pieces around to better display the architectural features of the home. The sofa that blocks the view of your beautiful fireplace can be moved to a wall; the table that crowds an armchair because it's handy for snacks can go to the hallway and hold a pretty plant.
Condition. Minor fix-ups should be done so that potential buyers are not mentally listing all the things they'll need to do as soon as they move in. As for major repairs, Deb defers to Realtors who are the experts on more involved projects such as redoing the bathroom or repairing the roof, and have the statistics on the expected payoff for these options. Stagers can work with or for Realtors, who may pay their fees or split the fee with the homeowner, recognizing the value of putting a staged home on the market. In many areas of the country, Realtors tend to steer clients to Staged Homes before others.
Staging options
Deb offers several levels of staging services:
Personal bid and stage, a walk-through of the home, followed by photos and notes and a bid for staging services (price varies with size of home, number of rooms, etc.) using existing furniture, art and accessories to achieve the quickest results possible. Deb has additional staging items that can be brought into the home.
Personal consultation, for the do-it-yourselfer, a detailed room-by-room evaluation (35 to 50 pages) covering items to be staged by the homeowner and how to do it. Deb will come back to fine-tune and take "after" photos for the homeowner and Realtor to use in promotion, and will certify the home as a Staged Home, which can be listed on www.StagedHomes.com to increase traffic for the seller.
Personal shopping services. Deb has contacts at a number of stores to get the best prices and find unique items for your staging. This service can save you time and stress of shopping.
Stage to live. If you've just moved into a home only to find that the garden spaces and wallpaper choices don't fit your family, Deb offers redesign services to make them your own. And sometimes rooms and gardens just need to be reorganized and refreshed. Realtors know that vacant houses are hard to sell. Deb provides a service in which she rents furniture and creates vignettes in each room designed to convey the warm and welcoming atmosphere of a furnished home.
A special service Deb hopes to develop is aimed at seniors who are down-sizing. Particularly in cases where there are no children to assist, the process of selecting what to keep can be agonizing. Deb will study the space they plan to occupy and suggest placement of their most needed and treasured belongings.
Staging the Ovedovitz home
Deb recently staged an old country home in Chemung, now listed for sale with Kelly Sindoni of Coldwell Banker Realty. More than 100 years old, the home has a lot of character and some fine architectural features.
Homeowners Lon and Tammy Ovedovitz have lived there for 10 years. They added gray vinyl siding and burgundy shutters to the exterior but, busy with three young children, didn't have time to do much interior work.
Deb and Tammy decided to stage four areas: the living room, dining room, kitchen and upstairs hallway. Lon was out of town on business during the staging activity. When he returned home and got a look at the living room, he was amazed at the transformation. "I feel like I've been on 'Trading Spaces'!" he said, referring to the popular television home makeover show.
You can find more about home staging on the Internet at www.StagedHomes.com, which has a link to Deb's Web site for Stage Two Sell, and www.IAHSP.com.
Deb also can be contacted at (607) 857-5194.
