Kerry Roth

We all remember the movie scene when the tightly wrapped trench coat is opened to reveal the bare nakedness. It speaks of being daring and openly defying social convention.

Dressing a home for sale can often involve just the trench coat with maybe a few accessories thrown in just for embellishment. It all depends on what's underneath the trench coat in determining whether to throw caution to the wind and let it all hang out. If what is underneath is in good shape and can stand the scrutiny of the viewing public than no further clothing is necessary.

Home staging the main public living areas of a home, the part you first see when you walk in, is like the trench coat. It's the enticing view that makes you want to see more. It's the first layer of clothing. All homes should have a stylish trench coat. Not an outdated 20 year old trench coat from the owner's back closet but a new current one that tells everyone "Look at me".

The Trench Coat

The rest of the house is what's underneath the trench coat. The part that can or cannot hold up to the scrutiny of the viewer. If its in good shape without too many flaws it can be displayed in its full glory unadorned. The viewer's imagination can go wild with the possibilities.

The Good of What's Under the Trench Coat

But if what is underneath the trench coat is flawed, dated and will make one cringe on sight, then by all means add additional layering. After all, it is far easier to sell a finely dressed home even if what's underneath is less than perfect.

What Everyone Fears Is Under The Trench Coat

Staged homes sell faster and for more money!

The ultimate home staging dilemma. How do I design around the marijuana plants growing off the back patio? I'm talking 8 feet high at least! Not just one plant but several. And that's not even mentioning the ones hanging upside down from the garage rafters.

Hey, they're legal. I'm not passing judgment. Medicinal usage has helped a friend of mine. I totally get it. But...I'm not sure how this is going to affect my home staging plans yet alone the marketing and selling of this property. Owners are adamant that they are not harvesting until the full moon of October. Really? So, we checked the calendar and it's a no go. The house goes onto the market before the next full moon.

Once Prop 19 passes (and it looks like it might) home staging and marketing a house will become just a little bit tricker. You can't exactly hide it. If you don't see it you certainly will smell it.

I have polled some real estate professionals and it's been unanimous that the owners need to harvest before placing their home on the market. Concerns were about disclosure, theft, negative perception to potential buyers and liability. Even with a harvest it's still drying in the garage.

So, what do you think? How would you advise the owners? Gives some food for thought about how you will handle this in the future, doesn't it?

I want to hear from you...

Home Staging sells homes faster and for more money proven by the following simple calculation.

BEFORE	AFTER

Statistically speaking home staging is cheaper than the first price reduction that people make on a listing that isn't selling. Staging should be considered the final investment into your home that will have a profitable return of investment.

A seller should budget 3-5% of the asking price towards home staging and deferred maintenance on average. A well maintained home would require less, but a home that needs updating, maintenance and staging could be more.

In a national study by the Real Estate Staging Association, published recently, it showed 126 homeowners that had their property on the market and average of 263 days (9 months!) before they decided to have thier home staged. It also showed 284 homes that were staged prior to being listed and they sold in 40.5 days. This is approximately 223 days less time on the market, that's SEVEN months less time on the market. As an example, using this formula you can determine approximately how much money you will continue to spend while your home is on the market un-staged.

If your mortgage is : $1800.00 If your direct expenses (utilities, etc.) are: $300.00 Total carrying cost per month: $2,100.00

Based on the study the home owners had their property on the market for an average of 9 months. $2,100.00 X 9 months = $18,900.00 in expenses. Had those homeowners staged first, their time on market would have been cut by 7 months on average $2,100.00 x 7 months= $14,700.00 Staging their homes first would have saved them $14,700.00.*

*The numbers, of course, are all relative to individual mortgage and expenses.

Use this simple formula to determine how much home staging can cut your expenses before putting it on the market:

Mortgage + expenses (utilities etc.) = Monthly expenses Monthly expenses X 9 months (avg. time un-staged) = Cost to list house un-staged Savings: Expenses x 7 months (average time on market reduced) -staging fee =Savings if you stage your house first!

** If you have a price reduction you can also add that into the loss you are taking by listing a property un-staged.

Having been in the home staging market for many years I can personally attest and give examples of how home staging a listing can increase market value and return on investment. Contact me at kerry@decorstaging.com or 650-619-9052 and I can share more information with you!

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The best answer to this question is to look at some virtual tour pictures on the internet. You can quickly pick out homes that are staged and the homes that are not.

When someone clicks on your virtual tour you have, on average, exactly 2 seconds to wow them with the first picture before they click onto another listing! Vacant rooms do not show well, as they not only look barren and cold but it is difficult to see the scale of a room without anything in it.

65% of buyers remember a home from it's color alone! At Décor Staging we think color is extremely important in setting a home apart from it's competition and making it memorable. Although as a general rule keeping colors to neutrals that will appeal to the broadest market is good, it does not mean it needs to be "Realtor beige".

Neutral colors can be blue, green, gold, taupe even purple! A big component of our staging design centers around the flow of a home. We often see floor plans that present difficulties in furniture placement, television viewing and traffic flow. All of these problems need to be addressed and answered in the staging of a home.

In fact, the more problems a home has with it's flow the more in need of staging it is. Staging can deflect attention away from problems and it can accentuate the positive aspects of the home. Staging never covers up a problem such as a bad floor or faulty construction because disclosure laws protect potential buyers from these types of things. However, staging can down play these types of problems, while they still remain viewable.

In today's market everyone is looking for a place in a home for comfortable T.V. viewing and a home office. We try to answer both of these desires in every home.

Having been in the home staging market for many years I can personally attest and give examples of how staging a listing can increase market value and return on investment. Contact me at kerry@decorstaging.com or 650-619-9052 and I can share more information with you!

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My favorite San Mateo home staging success story encompasses the "there's good news and bad news" scenario. It started when I received a San Mateo home staging job for a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom owner occupied home that was packed to the gills with furniture. It even had a large office armoire in the breakfast nook! A plan of attack had to be created to make this home less cluttered and more easy on the eye.

We decided to move about 80% of the owners furniture into storage which would allow me to bring in smaller pieces to set the home stage look. The owner, understandably, was overwhelmed with the idea of moving so much furniture to storage, but I was prepared for that. I told her to go to work and I'd take care of everything.

I had my professional movers come in and move the furniture to storage and by the time she was home from work the entire house had been transformed! The owner was delighted that she hadn't had to lift a finger to move the furniture and the Realtor was pleased the San Mateo staged home was ready for the market.

I thought everything was fine until I received a call from the Realtor a week later. It ends up the owner liked the new feel of the home so much she decided to pull her house off the market and keep the newly transformed home!

Definitely a home staging success story for me, and the Realtor was a good sport about it as well. He still uses me for all of his San Mateo home stagings.

Should you have any questions regarding home staging please contact me directly at 650-619-9052. You can also join our mailing list for our monthly home staging news letter by clicking on San Mateo home staging.

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