Article from REMAX of NJ that I was a guest blogger for on  How home staging can help sell your house.  What are the benefits to staging?

http://www.remax-nj.com/blog/home-staging-can-help-sell-house/

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HOW HOME STAGING CAN HELP SELL YOUR HOUSE

Posted by Krystina Maloney On July 14, 2014 In Tips & How To

In our second installment of our Home Staging Series, guest blogger and professional home staging expert, Cindy Bryant offers her expertise on how home staging can help stage your house. Read on and find out why she believes home staging is an important part of the selling process:

When it comes to selling a home, the benefits of home staging are enormous.

A NAR survey states that a whopping 90% of buyers search online during the home buying process. That’s why you have to grab their attention in the very beginning, starting with the MLS photos posted online. If buyers don’t like what they see, they won’t waste their time or make it to your front door. In this day and age, it’s on to the next listing with the click of a button until potential buyers feel a connection to a home they see. Staging can provide that emotional connection that many homes lack. Prepare, stage and then list with picture perfect photos.

The vast majority of buyers can’t imagine how their furnishings will look in a home. A properly staged home will accent and highlight the features and attributes of your house. It will help buyers visualize how they can place their furnishings and accessories and imagine a future lifestyle. It also defines any awkward spaces or rooms that may be questionable for a buyer.   Proper placement, size and scale are key. You want a room to look as large as possible. Buyers are paying for square footage and they want to see it.

Your home should show as warm and inviting, not sterile. Home staging is designed to keep buyers in your home longer. The longer they linger, the more interested they are.

Home staging is a way to connect with potential buyers that are looking in your neighborhood. If you stage for your demographic area, you will have an advantage over your competition. If your neighborhood is older and home sellers are downsizing, then young families may be your target market. If so, the lifestyle staging should reflect a younger buyer.

Home staging also gives the notion that a house is worth more money, and is well kept. If you have older, outdated furnishings, I would highly recommend hiring a professional home stager to bring in updated furnishings and accessories to give your home a newer, fresh look. If you are on a tight budget or a D.I.Y.’er, consider hiring a home stager for a consultation. It is the first step and a very cost effective way to stage your home, giving you a third-party, non-partial perspective of your property.

If homes are staged, buyers will realize the seller cares and has maintained and taken care of the inside and out.

A staged home will show better, bringing you more traffic and better offers, which can result in a bidding war.

Having your home staged is easier to keep show-ready at all times, taking the stress out of last minute showings.

Don’t give buyers a reason to walk through your home and pick it apart only to give you a low ball offer. Home staging will be the best investment you can make when selling your largest asset!

Cindy Bryant is the Owner of Redesign Etc. Home Staging, a full-service business serving the Greater Houston area. She started the company in 2006 and has staged and consulted on hundreds of homes worth over $100 million dollars in real estate properties. She has been featured on two episodes of “Stretch Your Dollar” on ABC Channel 13, The Houston Chronicle and live talk radio. Cindy is a Featured Blogger and Ambassador for the Texas Home and Garden Show, a member of the Benjamin Moore Design Advisory Board. She is a Real Estate Observer Expert, CORT Corporate Stager for Houston and author of numerous articles. Cindy was awarded the Best in HOUZZ 2014 in Satisfaction. To learn more about Cindy and her business, visit www.RedesignEtc.com.

Don’t forget to visit www.remax-nj.com to see homes for sale in New Jersey.

Via REMAX of New Jersey

How Home Staging Works - What Is Home Staging?

Alvis Upitis/Photographers Choice/Getty Images
The cardinal rule of home staging? Clean, clean, clean.

If you're selling a home these days, in most parts of the country, just putting up a for sale sign and hoping for the best probably won't be enough. In a sluggish real-estate market, homeowners sometimes have to take extra steps to make a sale. For sellers trying to make a good impression, home staging has become a popular way to increase a home's selling price and decrease selling time.

Home staging is arranging furniture and decor with the intent to showcase a home for sale. It could cost you nothing -- a simple cleaning and the removal of day-to-day living items can sometimes be all you need. But it can also involve some financial investment -- like painting, improving the landscaping and adding furniture and plants to give potential buyers an idea of what their new home would look like.

So where do you start? Should you hire someone to stage your home for you, or can you do it yourself? If you want to hire someone, where do you look? If you do it yourself, what do you need to know? Do staged homes actually sell faster and for more money? We'll answer all of those questions as we explore how home staging works.However, staging isn't decorating, according to real-estate professionals. It's more like depersonalizing a home so that prospective buyers can imagine themselves in it. This can mean removing family photos, piles of newspapers and the cat's litter box, as well as adding neutral-colored paint and carpet and buying new appliances.

by Tiffany Connors from "How Stuff Works"

What's Really Involved When Staging A Vacant Home

With vacant homes on the rise in the real estate market more people are turning to Home Stagers to give their home that competitive edge. What most people don't realize is the time and labor involved in staging a vacant home.

After the necessary recommendations and improvements from the Home Staging Consultation Report has been implemented the actual Home Staging process begins.

The following usually takes place for Home Stagers when staging a Vacant home:

Visiting the property to take a look at each room, the space, feel, and style of home.
Visually figuring out what furniture and accessories will best fit the spaces to be done, also known as space planning.
Taking photos of each room.
Figuring out the cost of furniture and accessories for the house.
Possible shopping for items needed specifically for that home.
Ordering furniture, paperwork, contracts, and phone calls.
Delivery of furniture from Furniture Company, if you use one.
Going to warehouse to start picking out and packing accessories.
Getting a truck, or trailer to carry all of the items you'll need.
Loading all items, accessories and furniture into truck or vehicle of choice. (Hoping you don't need anything else and have to make several trips).
Driving to location.
Unloading items from truck, unpacking, and placement of items and furniture, known as hands-on staging.
Take after photos.
Taking all excess that's not used, including totes or boxes and load back into truck.
Drive back to warehouse to unload.
Drive home and Crash!
Wake up the next day sore from head to toe, with scrapes, bruises and cuts, (forget the nails).
House Sells...Then What?
Call furniture company to pick-up furniture.
Drive to get truck that you'll be using to bring items back.
Drive to warehouse to get totes and boxes to put items from home back into them.
Drive to house that has now sold.
Start packing, bubble wrapping, and placing all items in totes.
Load furniture and accessories into truck.
Drive back to warehouse.
Unload, Unpack, and put everything back into warehouse.
Take truck back.
Drive home and crash again!
The next day start all over!

This is just an example of what usually happens, every Home Stager does it a little differently.

The average time from start to finish can average between 20-25 hours.

Visit http://www.redesignetc.com/ Houston's Home Staging Specialist Staging Your Home To Sell!

Kid Clutter To Super Simplistic

Kids had taken over the Game Room and had made it their craft room. After taking the table, clutter and other pieces out, it was turned into a very simplistic, minimalist room. I was able to use the benches as a much needed coffee table. Redesigned using the homeowners furniture.

This property was staged and sold under 30 days.

Visit http://www.redesignetc.com/ Houston's Home Staging & Redesign Specialist staging your home to sell.

Houston's Hot New Real Estate Marketing Tool

Home Staging in Houston is a hot new marketing tool that gives you that edge in a competitive real estate market. Sell your home faster and get Top Dollar by using our Home Staging Services. We create the "WOW" factor for that "Model Home Look". Buyers are savvy and first impressions are everything. We merchandise your home to stand out from the competition, staging your house to "sell". We can use your existing furnishings and accessories, or we offer an accessory and furniture rental program to artfully achieve a designer look. We use furniture and accessories that complement any size, type or look of home.

Home Staging Statistics

A staged house sells for more money:
U.S. Housing and Urban Development reports that a
staged house sells, on average, 17% higher than an
unstaged house.

Statistics suggest staged houses sell at an average of
6.32% over what they are listed for. Non staged homes
only average 1.6% over the listed price.

A staged house sells faster:

The New York Village Voice reported that the average
number of days on the market for a staged house was
13.9 versus 30.9 days for an unstaged house.

The cost of staging is very reasonable:

2003 HomeGain survey of 2,000 real estate agents
nationwide found that moderately priced home
improvements, ranging from $80 - $2,800, made in
preparation for sale actually yielded the highest returns
when a house is sold.

Did you know:

Only 10% of home buyers can actually visualize the
potential of a home.

A recent study by the National Association of the
Remodeling Industry found that a $700 paint job results in
a 200% recovery of the cost upon resale of the home.
(National Post, Mar. 11/04)