As with any major life change, preparing and selling your home can be very stressful. Undoubtedly, many fears are triggered.
I am sure these are just some questions going thru your mind right now:
- Where can I put all this stuff?
- What will the home stager think of me when she sees this mess?
- Will the house be ready on time?
- Are we making the right improvement decisions?
- Where can I put all this stuff?Who can I get for repairs, gardening, painting, and cleaning?
- Do all my rooms need to be furnished?
- How will I know what buyers are looking for?
- Why didn’t I decorate before now?
- How will I cope with showings?
- Which Realtor should I list with?
- What if I do not have the budget to ‘remodel’?
HELP!
What to do first? Contact a Professional Home Stager!
When you hire a professional Home Stager, part of their role is calming these anxieties and answering your questions honestly. They understand the stress and pressure you are feeling.
Home Staging is more than decorating or de-cluttering.
It is about merchandising a home’s best features, downplaying its imperfections, and understanding the psychology of what makes a buyer fall in love with a particular home.
Contact a professional stager even before you decided on an Agent.Think about it. You technically sell your home to your agent first! They will be the person choosing the right listing price. Although they must use comparable home sales in your area to decide price ‘perceived value’ is also very important. A home ready to photograph will be able to go on the market sooner.Don’t be pressured into listing before it is ‘photo ready’!
A good Home Stager will have suggestions for trades people and possibly Realtors they have worked with in the past. Some stagers specialize in occupied homes and other in vacant homes. There is a level of service and budget for every home.
Avoid being a penny wise and a pound foolish.
Beware of hiring a Home Stager based on price alone. You may save yourself a couple of hundred dollars only to lose tens of thousands of dollars you could have earned if your home had been staged properly from the beginning. Look for an experienced stager. Check their website. (true professionals should have a website and a Facebook page) How long have they been in the staging business. Look at their testimonials. Talk with them. How do they approach the process?
Your home is, most likely, your most valuable possession don’t take selling your home for granted.
GraceAnn Simoni www.StagingRedesignGroup.com 630-355-1983
