House Calls

Staging to Make a Dining Room Look Bigger

Often, one of the goals of staging is to make rooms look more spacious. Dining rooms can be a challenge due to the number and size of the pieces of furniture. Here are some tips to make your dining room look and feel bigger and more open:

1. Unless your dining room is very big, take the leaves out of the table so that there is plenty of space on both ends to walk around the table.

2. Use a maximum of four chairs at the table. Remove the others from the room. Do not line them up against the wall, as that just eats up space and gives the room a cluttered feeling.

3. If there is an oversized china cabinet, consider removing it. Or, if it has a top and a bottom, remove the top and use  the bottom as a server. This will visually open up the space.

4. If there is an area rug, make sure it is big enough to pull the chairs back 18 inches from the table and still be on the rug.

Think Twice Before Selling “As Is”

These days a lot of sellers anticipate losing money if they sell their home. If so, they should probably stay put unless they absolutely have to move. If they do find themselves in the position of having to move, they may wonder if they should spend a dime fixing up the place for sale…isn’t this throwing good money after bad? Even homeowners with lots of equity often figure the way to get the most out of the sale is to cut sales costs to a minimum.

This attitude is directly contrary to the notion that the way to make the most money on the sale of the home is by pricing the property appropriately for the market, and by making cost-effective improvements that will result in a higher sale price in a shorter time.

Here’s why selling “as is” isn’t usually in the best interest of the seller. Buyers who see things that need fixing or updating will discount the price of the house by what they estimate the repairs will cost, and they will usually round up to be on the safe side. Then they will discount it another 5-10% for the hassle factor. Let’s say the house would be worth $500,000 in good condition. But the exterior needs painting and the floors need refinishing. The buyer estimates these could cost $10,000.  He will not offer $490,000 or even $485,000 because he could buy a comparable home for $500,000 and not have the inconvenience of making the repairs. Instead, he would probably offer only $475,000. The seller could have made the repairs for $10,000 (or less), sold it for $500,000 and netted at least $15,000 more than he would if he had sold it as is.

The other downside of selling a house “as is” is the psychological effect it has on the buyer. First off, it is hard to fall in love with a house that clearly has a long to-do list associated with it. Very few people have the vision to see beyond worn out and dated interiors. So it is unlikely that someone will step through the front door and say “This is it! This is the one.”  Secondly, a house that is sold “as is” will leave buyers wondering what repairs are needed beyond the ones that they can see. Is the foundation solid? Is it structurally sound? Afraid of the unknown, they will either pass this house by or discount the price further to account for hidden problems they might encounter later.  Now the $500,000 house which has already been discounted to $475,000 gets discounted another $5,000-10,000.

My advice is to make the necessary repairs and enhancements before listing your house. Hire a professional real estate stager to come in and recommend which changes and improvements will yield the highest return on investment. You don’t want to over-improve your house and spend money on things that will not pay out so it’s important to have some professional advice if you want to maximize your return. A good stager can also recommend reasonably-priced tradespeople for these tasks, and some will even oversee the work for you.

Don't Be Penny Wise and Pound Foolish When Selling Your House

If you are planning to sell your house, you may be wondering whether to go to the expense of staging it first or just go ahead and list it without staging. After all, you can always stage it later if it doesn’t sell, right?

Well, right…as long as you don’t mind taking longer to sell and making less money when you do. Here’s why:

1. Your home will see the most action in the first two weeks after it’s listed. That’s when it gets the most buzz among the Realtors and when you typically get the most showings. That’s also when you are likely to get your highest offer. Don’t waste this golden opportunity by not putting your home’s best foot forward.

2. If you stage your home before you list it AND take great photos of your staged home, your agent will be able to attract more people to tour your house. 84% of people now pre-shop on the internet before physically visiting homes for sale. Make sure you don’t turn them off with lousy pictures. And don’t think you can get away with a single picture of the front of the house or a couple of pictures of the more presentable rooms. Too few pictures will send a red flag to potential buyers, who will think, “There must be something wrong with this house if they’re not showing us all of the rooms. Let’s skip it”

3. That old saying is true: “You never get a second chance to make a great first impression.” If a buyer tours your house and finds it cramped, cluttered or dated looking, they will never come back, even if you subsequently clean it up, stage it or even remodel it. They have moved on to the houses that were show-ready to begin with.

4. Time is NOT on your side. The longer your house sits on the market, the lower the selling price. If you don’t get an offer in the first month or so, your agent will pressure you to reduce your price. So you want to improve your odds of getting an offer right out of the gate by staging your home.

5. Staging before you list will force you to deal with your clutter and cast-offs sooner rather than later and make the whole process of moving more organized and less stressful.

Remember, when selling your house, you are playing the numbers game. The more people you can get through your front door, the more likely you will get an offer. So the objective is to attract as many potential buyers as possible and then wow them when they get there. That’s what staging does.