Should We Stage Our Home?

“Stagers” are designers who conduct home makeovers. They rearrange furniture, de-clutter, buy accessories, install light fixtures, and repaint walls, with the goal of showing potential buyers a home that is tasteful and ready to move into. A recent Coldwell Banker study in San Francisco recorded staged homes on the market for an average of 25 days versus 48 days for all sales.

Well San Francisco is an extremely High End Real Estate Market. Here’s my opinion for my market in Fountain Hills, AZ.

We do have many homes that exceed six figures and that market is still difficult. But let’s set up a typical scenario for Fountain Hills.

1. Listing price of $1,500,000
2. 4 Bedrooms, 4 baths, pool, 3 car garage, 3,700 Sq. Ft with views and custom built in 2005
3. The home is occupied by 2 teens, 2 pets and mom and dad. We have a budget of $3,000 to prep the home.
4. My first advise is to pack as if you are going to move this week and hopefully you might have to. Cost Free!
5. Remove as much as possible from the counters, walls, pantry, bathrooms, closets and living areas. If you haven’t used it in the last 2 weeks pack it up. Cost Free!
6. This is important! Everything of value needs to be secured! You have no idea who is going to be going through your home. If you have valuables in your home you’re inviting a theft.
7. This is one of the most important detail in selling a home and it’s one of the most difficult particularly in the upper end price range. Availability to show! If I’m on a showing and can’t gain access to a home, that home might have just got crossed off. Having your home on a lock box and available is huge.

It’s time to spend the budget!

Hire a professional landscaper.

Concentrate on curb appeal. Weed,trim and rake the yard and add granite if it’s thin. Also add color such as low maintenance Lantana. Fix any irrigation problems and get rid of any unsightly or over grown vegetation. Add a monthly maintenance fee. Cost…$500

Hire a professional floor cleaner and have every floor cleaned including grout between the tile. Cost…$500.

Hire a professional Pool Cleaner and add a monthly contract. Cost…$100.

Hire a professional Window Cleaner and have the windows cleaned inside and out. Cost…$400.

Hire a professional exterminator and add a monthly contract. There is nothing worse then finding a scorpion or a rat in a home that is being shown! That’s a deal breaker! Cost…$100.

This one, I think is the most important and most clients think they don’t need because most clients think they do a good job of housekeeping but they don’t. You want to hire a great Housekeeping Service. Not just a drive by Dust and Bust Cleaner but a meticulous house cleaner. In Fountain Hills I can recommend a team that if available will do an excellent job for you. They’re not cheap. You want a head to toe cleaning the first time and a weekly maintenance. Cost…$500.

So far we’re under the budget even if we need 3 months to sell the home and in my opinion money much better spent then hiring a stager. Take what’s left and paint everything neutral colors. I know you love your Pumpkin Orange Bedroom, but the average buyer isn’t going to have the same tastes.

So here it is in a nutshell:

Clean! Inside and Out.

Available to Show at a moments notice, free of pets and occupants.

No clutter and no mess. If your planning on moving, Pack it up!

Keep it Clean, Clutter Free and Neutral.

Forget the Stager, but hire professionals.

Hire a Professional Real Estate Agent that has marketing experience in your area. You need to check out their ability to effectively market on the internet sense 97% of all Real Estate Transactions begin on the internet. This is simple.

Do they have a Real Estate page specific to your area on Facebook?

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Do they have a website specific to your area?

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Do they have a Twitter Account specific to your area?

Do they have a Youtube Account specific to your area?

Do they blog?

If they don’t you’re not getting noticed. Real Estate is still a numbers game, but the game has changed. We can now reach Millions of people through Social Media and the internet. Most Reators have ye to understand this concept and still concentrate on advertising on shopping carts, cold calling and annoying drop ins.

I and my company eXp Realty represent the future of Real Estate by exploring the vast cloud and marketing to the whole world rather then hanging a sign and putting an ad in the local newspaper. If you would like more info on my global approach contact me today.