An OrderLee Home, Inc. -
Recently, someone asked me if I wrote The Science And Art Of Staging
so home owners could do their own staging. 

Not really.

While there is a lot of information here, this does not come close to covering all the decisions I make and things I do when staging a house. 

If you are planning to sell your house, I encourage you to interview several local stagers, then select the person you trust and feel most comfortable working with.

I encourage you to hire a stager because staging is marketing.  Local stagers are experts on marketing homes in your area.  Stagers look at each individual property with "buyer's eyes" and tune their staging to the specific look and feel that will maximize appeal. 

When I first speak to a potential client, I encourage them to read this section before the Home Evaluation.  I do not ask them to do anything to the house, just to read.  I find this helps us be on the same page from the beginning.  This helps them understand the advice I offer.  This helps them prepare both for staging and for selling.

However, I know some home owners live in places where there are no local stagers.  Some home owners do not have digital cameras so they can email photos to a stager they have interviewed and hired remotely.

If The Science And Art Of Staging helps them minimize their time on the market, and maximizes their selling price, then I am glad.
Nancy Lee
President, An OrderLee Home, Inc.

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The Basics

What sells a house?  Price. 

The days where buyers were willing to pay any price to get a specific house are gone.  Today, buyers run internet searches based on the asking price.  Market value, determined by the selling prices of comparable houses near by, is fundamental to getting the house seen and considered.

Knowledgeable, successful, local listing agents are your best source of information about  pricing and what is happening in your local market.


What influences buyers' decision to buy?

  • Location  (commute to work, school district, subdivision, view, etc)
  • Demographics  (square footage, or the number of bedrooms, etc)
  • Condition  (deferred maintenance, issues found during the home inspection, upgrades, etc)
  • Presentation  (the look and feel of the house, the emotional response buyers experience when they see photos or walk into the house)

Below, I offer advice on how to 'stage' your Location, Condition, and - most especially - your Presentation.  To a great extent, Demographics "is what it is".

Okay, now that we are all grounded,
Let's start staging!


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Phase One

Prepare To Stage


Let Go
"The way you live in your home, and the way you market and sell your house are two different things." - Barb Schwarz

It is easy to say your home becomes a house when it is for sale; and to maximize your sale your house should be a well merchandised product. 

For some people, it is hard to understand and accept these changes. 

Please, take a few minutes to walk through the yard and each room, thinking about leaving.  If you find you have very strong emotions and floods of memories as you take this walk, please recognize you are going to have to make a conscious decision to let go.

We will do a much better job in Phase Two when you can accept your Home is now your House and if you can think of your house as a merchandised product. 

During the Staging and the selling process, you may sometimes feel angry or insulted.  Your Stager may tell you to remove some of your most beautiful items.  She is not doing this because she does not like the items, she does, but she knows those items do not belong in a neutralized, depersonalized Staged house.  Potential buyers may say things that would not be kind if said about your Home.  Remind yourself they are not talking about your Home, they are talking about the product you want to sell. 

Examples:  Twenty years of "how tall am I now?" marks (blue for your son, pink for your daughter) on the hall wall, The corner where the Christmas tree always stood, The dining room and table where your ex told you it was over, The recliner where you sat to watch every Super Bowl, The swing set where all of the kids in the neighborhood played every Saturday



Get To Know Your Buyer
How do we "get to know" someone who does not even exist yet?  And why would we want to?

We research to figure out what kind of person your most likely buyer is.  Are most of the people living in the area families with small children?  Are you selling a city loft which will probably go either to a young, professional couple who want a short commute or to retired downsizers who want easy access to restaurants and theaters? 

Is it more likely that your house is going to be purchased by someone who plans to live there full time?  Will it be a vacation or second home?  Will it become an investment property?  

We define our most likely target audience.  We use that information when we have to make decisions during Staging, especially when we take the Staging "up a notch".



Tell Them About It
We will prepare an attractive Presentation Folder to hold information about:
  • How the  house has been maintained
  • The improvements you have added to the house
  • The good things about the location
  • Anything that is wrong that you do not plan to fix


We will leave the Presentation Folder out in a place where it can easily be seen when buyers look at your house. When they review the contents,potential buyers will feel:
  • They understand the positives and negatives about the house,many of their worries will be relieved
  • They can trust you, the seller, because you have freely provided them with this understanding


The next four steps describe how we get the information we put in the Presentation Folder.


Tell Them About It: Consider Having A Home Inspection
This is a preemptive action.  It is likely, sometime in the selling process, there is going to be a Home Inspection.  If your potential buyers are surprised by what they learn, the deal can fall through.  If everything is "up front" and there are no surprises, the risk of a failed sale is removed.

You can use a Home Inspection to communicate both the quality of your product and the quality of how the house has been maintained.  Instead of being unpleasantly surprised, potential buyers will feel confident.

Have the home inspected.  We will review the Home Inspection Report and decide how each item will be handled.  We may decide to:
  • Fix an issue. 
  • Modify the asking price to cover the cost of the future work.
  • Do nothing. 


If it will not break your budget, when you are done have a second Home Inspection - one that reports what good shape your house is in.

We put the Home Inspection report and a letter telling how each item was handled in the Presentation Folder.   If we use the second Home Inspection report, we don't need the letter, that Inspection speaks for itself!

This is merchandising.  Please consider it.


Tell Them About It: Close Down All Home Improvement Projects
“Buyers only know what they see, not the way it’s going to be!” - Barb Schwarz

A Staged Home is complete.  There is no work-in-progress to distract, confuse, or worry potential buyers.

We will consider the value and purpose of any current or future projects:
  • Are you fixing something that is something broken? 
  • Is this work being done to address an item on the Home Inspection report?
  • Will the project improve your lifestyle but not matter to a potential buyer?  
  • Will finishing the project improve the merchandising of your product?  
  • Is the cost of finishing the project going to exceed the value to your product? 
  • Are there any home improvement projects you have not started that will improve the merchandising of your product?


There are three ways to address a home improvement project:
  • Finish it completely
  • Simplify it then finish the reduced version
  • Back it out and don't do it


We will consider adding a "Completed Upgrades" page in the Presentation Folder.  If something special has been done, we will tell potential buyers about it.

Special Note Staging does not hide defects or problems.  Staging emphasizes the positive aspects of Space and Lifestyle.  But, if you know something about the house is not up to code, or is seriously not right, there are ethical and legal implications that need to be addressed.


 Tell Them About It: Stand Up
At some point you are going to have to fill out a legal form detailing any potential problems with the house and the neighborhood.

We will discuss this with your listing agent.  In some cases we will include this information in the Presentation Folder.

Examples of things to include: Dogs that bark all night long, The nearby quarry that uses dynamite to blast next week's work out of the side of the mountain every Friday at noon, Nearby lake that is tranquil on week days and used for sporting events on weekends


Tell Them About It: Give The 411
Many listing agents do some of this.

We will prepare a "Welcome To The Neighborhood" page to include in the Presentation Folder.  This page is a list of the things a potential buyer needs to know about the area and the house.  We will put the list in the presentation folder.  Potential buyers can read it and get a better feel for the history of the house and the advantages of the Location.  With these questions answered they will find it easier to imagine living there.

If you have the floor plan for the house or the plat if you are in a subdivision, include these in the folder.

Examples of things to include: Dates maintenance was performed on the house (like a new roof, the age of the appliances, when the carpet was installed), Schools, Fire department, Day Care centers, Utilities, Popular restaurants, Local groceries, Nearby department and discount stores, Theaters, Parks, Scenic drives, Night clubs



You Only Get Two Chances To Make A First Impression
Whether you are selling a house or a pack of gum, First Impressions matter.  This is fundamental to all marketing and has been proven, over over, in psychological testing.  If the buyer does not have a favorable first impression it is extremely unlikely they are going to change their minds later.  In Real Estate, it is unlikely they are even going to spend time looking at a house they do not "feel good" about.

And, first impressions happen fast.  Statistics vary, but it is safe to say you have less than a minute to make that all important first impression.

So, in this step, staging plans and controls that impression.

Over 70% of buyers get their first impression of the house from the Internet.  Make it matter. 

The first First Impression (virtual):

No matter how tempting it is, do not publish photos of your house before the staging is complete. 

If you plan to repaint the purple walls and replace the sagging garage doors, do so before you begin marketing the house.  If the photos show a sagging garage door, 70% of your potential buyers are going to assume the door still sags.  Many of them will not even look.  Those that look will already have decided they are going to reduce any offer they make to offset having to replace the garage door.  Even when they see you made the replacement, that little "low ball" switch in their heads is not going to reset: they are likely to continue assume they will make a low offer. 

Make sure the Internet photos are clear, well-lighted, accurate, and show multiple views inside and outside and out. Give serious thought to hiring a professional real estate photographer to create that first impression.

The second First Impression (physical):This is curb appeal.  This is shining front windows, a flat clearly defined walkway from parking to the front door.  This a clean, recently painted or refreshed front door, and a spotless, subtly decorated front entry (on both sides of that front door).

For the many buyers who first saw the house on the Internet, the physical first impression either reinforces or breaks the virtual first impression.  Hint: reinforce is very, very good; break is very, very bad.

For buyers who did not see your house on the Internet, this is IT, this is that one minute window.

PLAN your First Impression.  When you are ready to implement  the plan (the staging is complete), stop and take a careful look.  Tune it, tighten it up, clean it more.  THEN, launch your ship, so to speak.  Do not begin your marketing before your First Impressions are ready.



Designate A Storage Area
Think of Staging To Sell as pre-packing to move

In the steps below, we are going to remove the furniture and accessories that make it hard for potential buyers judge Space or imagine Lifestyle.

Optimally, the items we remove will be stored away from the house.  We will put them in  your new home if it is not too far away, or rent a storage unit.  If that is not possible, we will designate one location in the house to hold neatly stacked boxes and extra furniture.  This "box" room can be the basement, the attic, or one of the last rooms a potential buyer sees when they tour your house.

When I say "remove" in the steps below, I mean carefully pack and place in the designated storage area.

If there is time, you can decide which of these "removed" items you will not keep when you move.  We can sell them in a yard sale, donate them, give them to friends and family, or throw them away.




Phase Two

The Science Of Staging To Sell


Simplify Contained Spaces
A contained space is any drawer, cabinet, pantry, or closet that will be sold as part of the house.

Potential buyers want to to imagine how well their things are going to fit and look in each contained space. I need open space when I Declutter to store some of the items you need on a regular basis that should not be left out while the house is on the market.

The goal is to have at least 50% empty contained space when Phase Two is done.

I maximize Lifestyle by organizing what is left in each contained space.

Examples:Kitchen cabinets and drawers, Bathroom cabinets and drawers, Linen closet, Pantry, Bedroom closet, Refrigerator interior if the fridge is being sold with the house, Out-of-season clothing, Empty hangers in the closet


Depersonalize
When we Stage to Sell, we remove as much of the homeowner's personality as possible.  Potential buyers can then easily imagine their belongings in the Space, their personalities and Lifestyle in each Space.

First, we will go through every room, the garage, the basement, and the yard. We will remove anything that, if damaged or lost, would break your heart.  Most potential buyers are very respectful of your belongings.  But, accidents happen. We will not risk losing anything truly precious to you. 

After the precious items have been secured, we will remove everything that tells buyers this house is still your home. 

We do this step together because only you know what is truly precious to you.

Examples:Family photos, Your children's art, Grandma's quilt, Trophies, The collection of Dresden porcelain bowls, The paint-by-numbers landscapes great-uncle Filbert painted in 1952



Declutter
When company comes, they enjoy looking at our collections and decorative objects.  We enjoy sharing with them.

But potential buyers are not company.

And, we are selling the Space, not the things in the Space.

What is clutter?  Clutter is anything that distracts buyers from looking at the house, the room, the Space. 

Small, decorative objects, collections, and just plain clutter take up a lot of visual space and are distracting.  They make the Space in the room seem smaller than it really is.  Potential buyers look at the clutter, fail to see the Space, get confused and go away.

I remove the clutter. 

Some of the things I remove may be used later when I Arrange Furniture and Accessorize.  I set these aside.  This list usually includes:
  • Large decorative items like vases, bowls, and pictures
  • Three to five similarly colored items from a collection
  • Large pictures or wall art
  • Large hard cover books
  • Attractive chairs
  • Occasional tables
  • Lamps


Examples: Pink elephant figurine collections, Trophies, Small pictures and wall art, Unwound hoses on the lawn, Empty planters, Paper stacks on the desk, The jungle of decorative greenery and figural groupings on top of the kitchen cabinets, Multiple appliances on kitchen counters, Rows of books filling the bookshelf, Unused computers or TVs, Pillows/curtains/rugs with small, intense patterns like plaid or tiny florals



Neutralize
I remove anything that might elicit a strong emotional response from a potential buyer.

Examples:Portraits, Religious objects, Statues of nudes, Political posters, Scary pictures


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Something interesting happens to most sellers about this time. 
They begin to relax. 
Their stress levels come down.

Look around. 

Your most precious belongings are safely packed in the designated storage area.
The figurines you were getting tired of
and the unread paperback books were sold in a yard sale. 
The jumble drawer is no longer jumbled. 
The only things in your closet
are the clothing and shoes you use regularly at this time of year.

When the time comes to pack to move, a lot of the work is already done.

You can feel yourself pulling away. 
You are no longer selling your home, you are selling your house.
Emotionally, that is a lot easier to do.


Now, it is time to move from Science to Art.
Now it is time to convert your house into a really well merchandised product.

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Phase Three

The Art Of Staging To Sell


Purpose Each Room

When you live in a home, the rooms frequently serve multiple purposes.  For example, you may have a home office set up in the bedroom or exercise equipment in the den.

This is fine for living in the your home, but it confuses potential buyers when they look at your house.  Confused buyers have difficulty imaging their own purposes, their Lifestyle, in the room.  They give up and go away.

I walk through each room in your house and around the yard.  I make a list of all the current purposes, missing purposes, and contradictory purposes.  Then I move or remove furniture and accessories until the purpose of each Space is easy for buyers to see and understand.

These are the general rules I follow when purposing a room.

1. Buyers expect and need to see certain purposes in each house. If those purposes are missing, many buyers assume that purpose cannot happen in that house.

Examples: Buyers need to see where they will dine, watch TV or have family time, bathe, and sleep.


2. Certain, standard rooms always have the same specific purposes.  Buyers will be confused if they do not see the expected purpose in that room.

Examples: Sleep in the master bedroom, Eat in the dining room, Watch TV in the great room or media room, Talk and read in the living room, Store and prepare food in the kitchen, Get clean in the bathroom, Park in the garage


3. If the room is small, it should have only one purpose.

Examples: Sleep in the guest bedroom, Work in the home office, Enter the house and look around through the foyer 


4. If the room is large it can have multiple purposes IF they are complimentary.  Each purpose should be in a separate location in the room.

Examples: A large bedroom can hold both the bed and a seating/reading nook, A long living room can be arranged to watch TV in one area and sit/visit/play board games in a second area


5. Contained spaces also have expected purposes.

Examples: The hall closet holds linens, towels, and related items; Kitchen cabinets hold dining/cooking utensils or food products


6. Contradictory purposes should be moved into another, more appropriate room; or they should be removed altogether.

Examples: Exercise equipment should be removed from the bedroom, The home office equipment should be removed from the dining table



Focus
People who stand at a door, look in, then walk away are not looking at the Space in the room, they are not imagining their Lifestyle when they live there.  It is unlikely they will  consider purchasing the product. 

It is a very good sign when a potential buyer walks into a room, sits down, and looks around.  They are making a deep connection to the Space and Lifestyle.

I use Staging Points to catch buyer's attention and draw them into each room.  A Staging Point is the "Oh Wow" or focal point of the room.  Too many Staging Points distract and confuse potential buyers.  If there is no Staging Point, the room will feel hard to live in, hollow, and uninteresting. Whenever possible, Staging Points are architectural so they are part of the purchase.  But, I can use furniture, accessories, and color to create a Staging Point if needed.

Examples of Staging Points:Windows with a lovely view, Fireplace, Bed, Dining table, Chandelier, Front door


Take A Stroll
This is a planning step.  This is a repetitive step.  I take this stroll again and again as I move furniture or accessories, and make notes on other things I need to do to fine-tune the Staging. 

I walk through the house room by room in the probable order buyers will take.  I stop at each door and look in, I step in and look around, I walk around the Space, I open contained spaces and check inside.  As I leave the room, I look back.  I go outside and stand at the front of the property, I look at the house and at the yard leading up to the house.  I walk up to the front door.  I stand at the back door and look around the back yard.

What will potential buyers see? 
  • Is the Staging Point clearly visible? 
  • Is the purpose of the room immediately obvious?  Have any contradictory purposes crept in? 
  • Is everything so clean it sparkles?
  • Are all contained spaces simplified and organized?
  • Are there any unwanted distractions?
  • Is the Space in the room balanced?  Does it seem to tilt to one side?
  • Are there dark places in the room? 
  • Are the windows uncovered to display beautiful views?  Do sheers mask unpleasant views while letting in light?
  • Are there gaps, like wide empty walls or blank corners?
  • Is it easy to walk into and around the room?  Is there plenty of space around each piece of furniture?  Is anything blocking easy access to doors or windows?


Arrange Furniture
When I purposed each room I removed some of furniture.  Now it is time to fine-tune the furniture that is left in each room. 

I "go shopping" in your house and yard.  I move furniture into the place it will best enhance the Space and Lifestyle.  I use the furniture I set aside when I decluttered, or I store that furniture in the designated storage area.

Furniture is the bones of the room.  We all know how important beautiful bones are.  I minimize the amount of furniture in each room.  In most houses, 50% of the furniture can and should be moved to other rooms or to the designated storage area.

I don't worry if there are gaps or empty spaces left once the furniture is arranged.  I will tune those with accessories and color.

I use the information gathered when I took the latest stroll to arrange furniture to:
  • Emphasize the purpose of each room
  • Draw the buyer's eye to the Staging Point
  • Highlight the positive aspects of each room
  • Play down any negative aspects of each room
  • Enhance the Lifestyle associated with that purpose
  • Lead the eye around the Space of the room
  • Ensure the size of the room feels right by balancing, but not filling, the physical and visual space in each room
  • Welcome potential buyers into each room to explore 
  • Allow potential buyers to walk freely and safely around each room


I arrange the furniture, then take another stroll.  Now what will potential buyers see?

The goal of Staging To Sell is to use only your existing furniture.  At times, some piece is needed to finish the room and you do not have it. 
  • I will go shopping through what you do have to see if there is a replacement.
  • If budget and time allow, you may choose to buy or rent the needed pieces.  Many Stagers keep an inventory, available for rental or purchase, of commonly needed small furniture and coordinated accessories.  I do. 
  • If budget or time make getting this missing piece impossible, it is better to do without.  I modify the furniture and accessory arrangement to play down the gap.


Examples:In the living room, I place a conversational group of a sofa and two chairs facing the fireplace; In the master bedroom, I remove the dresser but leave the armoire; In the breakfast nook I remove the computer desk and put in a small table and two chairs; If the back of the sofa defines the foyer, I add a sofa table so the entrance is welcoming


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Each room has been depersonalized and decluttered. 
About half of the furniture has been removed. 
The house is feeling pretty empty and unappealing, isn't it?

Don't panic.

I now have the basics of each room in place. 
The next two steps build on the basics to fill each room
while still enhancing Space
and telling potential buyers about the wonderful Lifestyle
they will have when this house is their home.

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Consider Color
Now is the time to look at the ceiling, the floor, and the walls that enclose and define the Space we are selling. 

Are you thinking it is little late?  Are you wondering why I didn't repaint the walls if they needed it before we did all that other work?

There are three reasons I leave this step until I am almost done.

1)  Only now, with each room cleared down to the bones - the furniture - can I truly evaluate whether the ceiling, floor, and wall color are confusing or distracting.  What looked like too much at the beginning may look just right now.

2) Only now that I have defined the Staging Points can I decide whether we need to add color or pattern to enhance the focus.

3) If we agree need, time, and budget call for it, repainting now in an almost empty room is going to be easier, faster, and less expensive than when the room was full of things.

I take another stroll and concentrate on the Space, on the background to the furniture: the ceiling, the floor, and the walls.
  • Are there distracting, busy areas? 
  • Are there areas that invoke an emotional, potentially negative response?
  • Do the colors make the room seem out of balance?
  • Would adding a deeper or contrasting color in one location emphasize a Staging Point?
  • Is the ceiling or wall color reducing the visual space in the room?
  • Does the wall color draw the eye to itself and away from the Staging Point or from the Space in the room?
  • Does the wall or ceiling color go well with the color of the furniture?
  • Does the color enhance and support the purpose in the room?


Off-white, beige/brown, grey/charcoal,and some shaded greens are the most neutral colors.  They enrich the Space and rarely "fight" with the furniture.

Whenever possible, I do not change the colors in the room.  But there are times, when I take a stroll and see the color is incompatible with our merchandising.  Then I consider what and how much needs to be changed.



Accessorize
When we live in a home, we want our guests to stop, look at, and enjoy the beautiful things we have.  Accessories in a home accentuate the personalities of the people who live there.

But, we just went to a lot of work to depersonalize.

So, what is the purpose of accessories in a Staged house?

In Staging, I treat neutral accessories like, large neutral paintings, decorative vases and bowls, small groupings of like-colored objects, lamps, occasional tables, and small chairs, as shapes and colors that:
  • Lead the buyer's eye around the room
  • Emphasize Staging Points
  • Highlight positive aspects of the room
  • Reduce the impact of negative aspects of the room
  • Break up blank walls
  • Lighten dark areas
  • Make the room feel welcoming
  • Enhance everything good about the Space and Lifestyle




Take It Up A Notch
The goal in Staging is to use only the furniture and accessories that are already in the house. However, each time I take a stroll, I make note of any actions or items that, while not strictly needed for basic Staging, will greatly enhance the value and shorten the selling time of the end product.

Because these items tend to increase the cost and time it takes to Stage, I discuss them with the client and we decide, based on their budget and potential profit, whether these enhancements will be included.

For example, in some cases, the wall color may be acceptable, but repainting in a more popular and up-to-date color will make the room more appealing to potential buyers. I will recommend this painting as an enhancement to the merchandising.

Or, the existing accessories may meet our needs by filling empty space and directing the buyer's attention to important Staging points. But, different, usually larger or color-coordinated, accessories will do a better job. Again, renting or buying new accessories will be on my list of enhancements.

Additional items that can be used to underscore and enhance the merchandising include (but are certainly not limited to):
  • Window Treatments
  • Upgrading the counters in the kitchen or bath
  • Adding a back splash in the kitchen or bath
  • Adding lighting, like recessed lighting, in the kitchen or bath
  • Recarpeting or putting in new flooring
  • Adding or changing the fireplace mantle
  • Renting or buying additional wall art
  • Renting or buying additional furniture
  • Painting cabinets
  • Refacing cabinet doors
  • Repouring or skimming concrete driveways
  • Laying stone or brick walkways
  • Adding new garden spaces



Get A CLOO(living in your Staged house)
When the Staging work is done, and every day after,it is your responsibility to:

C - CleanIf it is shiny, make it gleam. If it is matte, make it glow. Get the whole house "Q-tip" clean.  Then keep it that way by dusting, sweeping, and vacuuming daily; and by scrubbing, washing, and polishing weekly or as needed.

L - Light We arranged lamps to lighten dark corners. We opened curtains to let in natural light and show off beautiful views. We hung sheers to filter out too much sunlight and mask unpleasant views. Replace light bulbs as soon as they burn out. Each day, make sure the lights are on and the sunlight is streaming in.


O - OdorKeep the whole house smelling good, but neutral. Do not use sprays. Do use plug-in oils. Use the same odor throughout the house.


O - OrderKeep every room and the yard Staged. Put things up as soon as you use them. Look the space over and straighten it on a regular schedule (maybe when you dust each day).



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Congratulations!  The Staging is done!

Always remember,
"The way you live in your home,
and the way you market and sell your house
are two different things."  -Barb Schwarz

Now it is time to show your product to your listing agent.

Now it is time to put photos on the Internet. 

Now it is time to invite potential buyers to come experience the your staged home.


Now it is time to sell your house.

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An OrderLee Home, Inc.     828-231-7682  anorderleehome@gmail.com
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