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Home › Articles › Home Matters › Home Staging

Home Staging

Preparing Your Home to Sell, Inside and Out

By Teri Brown

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If the subtleties of home staging are beyond you, it may be time to hire a professional. Sites like Stagedhomes.com can help you find an accredited home-staging professional to help you show your home in its best light.

Cynthia Ivie is a master simplifier and founder of White Space, a professional organizing business in Chicago, Ill. Her business specializes in home staging and says that listings that are staged sell 75 percent faster and sell for 3 to 6 percent higher than asking price.

"White Space has helped its clients to sell their homes for more than they expected by staging their homes," Ivie says. "Obviously first impressions are important, but in my experience most people are more interested in the interior space and how it suits their lives than a less-than-perfect exterior. This is why staging one's home to welcome the prospective buyers inside is so important."

Ivie gives the following tips to those sellers wishing to stage their home effectively.

  • Get an objective opinion about the home; if not from a professional like White Space, at the very least ask a friend or neighbor to give you some insights into how your home "shows."
  • Eliminate any unnecessary items from your home – photos, furniture, clothing and books. Allow space in all storage areas to make them appear roomier, even if it means renting a storage space while your home is on the market.
  • You have to give prospective buyers the opportunity to visualize themselves living in your space, which means paring down personal effects like too many photos, etc.
  • Detach yourself – as the homeowner – from the property enough to see its assets and liabilities.
  • Understand that your objective is to sell the home, not to hang onto it. If your home is highly stylized to your taste, make it a little more "vanilla."

Selling your home can be a complex and stressful period of your life. By creating an atmosphere that is both warm and welcoming, you will not only reduce your stress, but set yourself up for a successful sale.

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