Selling Your Home-NOT Exactly "As Seen on TV"!

There are many aspects in marketing a home. A great marketing plan starts with the best possible product. Your home is that product and you want to present and package it so that it stands out in the sea of similar homes. That's where staging comes in. Just as a super model or celebrity consults with a professional stylist before a premier, your home needs to be sure that is polished to perfection before its big premiere.

Stagers are independent business owners who may or may not belong to professional staging associations. Services may include do-it-yourself staging consults and coaching to comprehensive, turn key packages. Consider your situation when looking into staging. What is your budget? How much time do you have to prepare your home? Do you have the skills and knowledge to make needed changes or repairs? Can you be truly objective when evaluating your home?

Reading staging articles and books may help. Watching home shows on TV may or may not help and can give false or misleading impressions about prepping your home for sale. Keep in mind that these shows are edited and produced as much for entertainment as they are for providing information. Some points:

• Most professional stagers are respectful of your feelings and your furnishings. They will, however, be honest about furnishings that are not an asset to the selling presentation.

• It's not about you. You may be very comfortable with the way your home is furnished and may feel hurt if you now have to disrupt your way of living. You are not being judged for your tastes or punished for not having the right furnishings. Remember that you may be inconvenienced for the greater good.

• It is not always necessary or practical to do construction or remodeling in order to sell a home. Slightly less expensive, but highly effective home updates like painting cabinets, walls or replacing carpeting may be indicated to update the home for a better price/quicker sale.

• Years of maintenance issues cannot be resolved in a day, or even a week. Before any staging begins, tend to the HVAC, appliance, fences, walkways, roofing, landscaping and other issues.

• Preparing your home can and will cost money. Home preparation costs depend on how well your home has been maintained over the years, whether any updates have been done and what interior re-arrangements may need to be made for the house to show at its best. It will also depend on how much you will take on yourself and how much you expect others to do for you. A staging consult can give you a clearer idea of the steps needed to prep the house and can be one of your best investments. How well you prep your house will have a direct bearing on how well it shows, how many, if any, offers are made and how long it will take to sell.

• You directly affect the sale of your home. You are a partner with your realtor, stager, handyman and others who provide services to ready your home for sale. Communication, cooperation and consideration are necessary for the best possible outcome.