How to stage your next listing

A professional designer shares hints to broaden the appeal of a client’s home

As a REALTOR®, you know the basics of real estate staging. Clean everything, get rid of clutter, hide the seller’s wall-to-wall Hummel collection–you’ve done it all before. But aside from that, how do you broaden the appeal of a house?

Wendy Dilda, a professional interior arranger with RealeStagers in San Antonio, recommends starting with a visual-condition report. "Walk through the house and pick out things that if repaired or touched up would enhance the value of the home. That helps you prioritize where clients will get the biggest bang for their buck," she says. For example, repainting a child’s bubble-gum pink bedroom may attract more buyers than something not as apparent, such as replacing an old dishwasher.

Dilda often works with what the seller already has in the house, but arranges it to create a focal point. You can direct a potential buyer’s eye away from something negative or toward something positive. Use artwork or a room’s own features, such as a fireplace, to capture a buyer’s attention. However, she cautions, "There’s a fine line. You want buyers to be able to appreciate the room and not just focus on the items in the room."

Remove any furniture that tightens spaces. If a couch or chair makes you turn your body as you walk by or just makes a passage look small, get rid of it because, she says, "Everybody wants more space."

When you rid the house of personal effects, don’t forget simple things like magnets on the refrigerator. Small distractions to the buyers’ eyes will disturb their thinking, preventing them from picturing the house as theirs. And while you want the rooms to look well-decorated and spacious, avoid turning the listing into a perfect home. "Buyers will think, ‘Gee, I could never make this place look this good.’" Dilda tries to balance staging a house with keeping some of its lived-in warmth.

But bedrooms and bathrooms are exceptions to this rule. Potential buyers often feel uncomfortable in these rooms because they are, by definition, personal and private places. To counter this reaction, make bedrooms and bathrooms look like a model home. "Clear off all surfaces of the bathroom–remove even simple things like toothpaste and soap. Put out nice, fresh towels instead," she says. The goal is to make these rooms comfortable for buyers, and when they’re comfortable, they linger and picture themselves in the house.

And if your clients seem reluctant to follow your suggestions for staging their home, call in a professional to be the bad guy. Sometimes it’s worth spending a few dollars rather than risk damaging an important relationship with clients.

Photo © Eyewire.

Buyers & sellers, visit www.texasrealestate.com.
REALTORS®, visit www.tar.org.