If you?re trying to sell a home today, it better be clean, decorated nicely and there can be nothing in need of repair. That means no broken door knobs, no carpet stains, no cat scratching posts in the family room and the furniture arrangements need to make sense. Making all of this happen is the domain of the home stager, a person like Sherry Castaldi of Downingtown who applies a critical eye to homes on the market and whips them into shape to sell.
When Castaldi, a certified professional home stager and redesigner, started her home staging business Organized by Design in 2004, the real estate market was booming and staging wasn?t always seen as needed. But in the current market, home staging has almost become a prerequisite to selling. ?When the market was hot people were just jumping on every property,? Castaldi said. ?Now, if sellers haven?t bothered to make the home more appealing and move-in ready, why would the buyer bother when there?s a house down the street that is move-in ready??
Castaldi has staged homes from a $200,000 single in Downingtown to a million dollar home in Delaware County and no matter whether the house is big or small, the sellers make the same mistakes and have the same problems.
?They could have a very lovely home but what the seller forgets is that it?s now intended for a buyer. They want to show the home as if they are bringing in family and friends to see it,? Castaldi said. And that might mean a reluctance to remove personal items like photographs. ?Buyers can?t envision themselves in the home when the owner?s personal stuff is around,? she said. That stuff becomes a distraction when the home is being shown. ?They (prospective buyers) end up looking at the diplomas and pictures and don?t pay attention to the house. They leave the showing and are asking themselves, ?How many fireplaces were in there??? Castaldi said.
Staging a home is a balance. Castaldi said, ?You can?t go in and paint everything white. It has to be neutral but still warm.? The space can?t be empty, but it can?t be crowded, either. The home stager has to do just enough so the prospective buyers can envision themselves in the space with their own furniture and possessions.
Staging a home is more than rearranging furniture. It includes painting, cleaning, organizing and fixing anything that is broken. According to Castaldi, a common mistake among sellers is a reluctance to invest time and money in fixing small items like broken door knobs or light fixtures. But, Castaldi said, these small investments will end up getting the seller more money in the long run. The amount of money a buyer will subtract from the price of the home to fix these items themselves is far greater than the cost incurred by the seller to get them fixed. And too many broken items, even little things, can add up to a red flag and scare buyers away.
Castaldi is typically brought in to stage a home by the Realtor trying to sell the home. She said most sellers are receptive to staging and she hasn?t come across homeowners who have been offended by her suggestions, even when she tells them they have to clean their house. The first thing she does during a consultation is identify the negatives and create a way to diminish them. But she also accentuates the positives. ?I always explain why something needs to be done so the seller isn?t confused,? Castaldi said.
As a home stager, Castaldi views her role as a plus to all parties involved: the seller, the buyer and the real estate agents. That?s because a staged home typically sells faster and gets a better price. This helps the real estate agents and the seller and the buyer benefits from getting a move-in ready home.
Her role is being an impartial third party who can get away with telling the sellers things that the agent couldn?t. ?I can be the bad guy and tell the seller ?you have to clean the house, you have to get rid of this and organize that,? and that takes the heat off of the Realtor,? Castaldi said.
For more information on home staging, visit Sherry Castaldi?s web site www.organized-by-design.biz.
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Source: http://furniture.someonewhogivesadamn.org/2011/09/setting-the-stage-for-a-quick-sale/
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