Redesign and staging specialists like Lisa Roy, owner of Spacelift, use their interior design expertise to get a house ready for sale.
Photograph by: NEWS photo , Mike Wakefield
ARE you in the market to sell your home?
If so, you may want to take a look at a professional stager to help you in this process.
Many homeowners today are looking to staging and redesigning companies to assist them in selling their home. The real estate market is very competitive these days and so it can be advantageous to have a professional edge when it comes to first impressions of your home.
Professional stagers are especially useful if you have already moved out of your home and it remains an empty space. Most real estate agents will agree that a home with a "lived in" feel is much more attractive to a potential home buyer than one that feels empty and cold.
If this is something that may appeal to you, here is a little of what a professional stager can offer.
Staging companies typically do a "pre-staging" consultation with the homeowner and give them a bit of homework that should be done prior to the actual staging. This would include a list of specific repairs, painting, cleaning and de-cluttering of the home. If required, furniture, accessories and art will be suggested and the option of renting these items can be explored.
Once the property has been prepped, stagers will come in and do their magic. Furniture will be rearranged to best suit each room, opening up spaces. It's possible that art will be re-hung and accessories moved to create focal points. Ideally, stagers will arrange furnishings to highlight the property's best features and attempt to downplay the weaker aspects of the home. Typically, one to two days is all that is required and the property would be photo-ready for advertising.
As far as pricing goes, to have a team of stagers come into your home for the day would depend on the size and scope of the project. An initial in-home consultation is the best way to get an idea of the costs and time involved. The fee for a "pre-staging" consultation starts at $100 plus HST, with the session taking about an hour to complete.
It's important for homeowners to understand that stagers will come into your home with an objective eye. One must think of staging as a part of the marketing plan for selling their property. It is not a decorator service as many would think but rather a strategic service offering a perspective from a majority of buyers and what they would like to see inside the home in order for them to envision themselves living in the space.
