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DON'T JUST SELL YOUR HOUSE, STAGE IT
Published on April 6, 2002 -  © 2002- The Press Democrat

Homes are not just put up for sale anymore. Increasingly, they are staged for sale.

"How you live in a home and how you sell a home are two different things," said Sharon Beck, who has earned the title of "accredited staging professional" through a series of courses developed by the staging pioneer Barb Schwartz, founder of StagedHomes.com.

So what sells?

Both inside and out, clutter is the first thing to go in preparing to stage a home. According to the experts, exterior and interior cleanup is required to eliminate personal belongings that are meaningful only to their owners.

"Prospective buyers get distracted by the seller's possessions. They need a clean slate on which to visualize their own belongings," said Margarita Ajello, co-owner of Sensational Spaces in Rohnert Park and Novato with partner Bani Raye.

Placement of objects, color coordination, use of fabrics and other textures also are part of the overall staging.

Sensational Spaces offers staging services incorporating Feng Shui, the ancient art of placement in uncluttered spaces to achieve harmony and order.

"Feng Shui begins at the property line," said Raye. "Your home is your sanctuary. So it's important that, as you walk toward your house, you begin to feel peaceful. To achieve that feeling, there needs to be a sense of beauty, harmony and order from the moment you step out of your car."

Ajello and Raye recalled a client's home where a tall canopy of green-topped naked branches near the front door. The result -- a harsh visual impact of twisted wood and shadows -- created a feeling of foreboding and dread. The stagers recommended removing the offending bush and replacing it with a flowering plum tree.

In another instance, Raye had been told by her agent some years ago that she'd never get more than $160,000 for her condo. Nevertheless, she set the asking price at $179,000. She eliminated clutter, cleaned to the point of sterility and decorated with a minimalist viewpoint. The first prospective buyer through the door paid her asking price.

"Staging a home for sale definitely increases marketability," Raye said, "but it also has the potential to increase the sales price."

Lindsey Halpern of LDH Designs, a Santa Rosa company offering decorating, organizing and staging services, has taken Concord-based staging-expert Beck's courses.

"I became aware of the importance of home staging about four years ago when I sold our family home," Halpern said. "I had a wall of photographs that I left untouched when I organized and decorated the home for sale.

"Later, I did business with someone who had seen my home as a prospective buyer," she continued. "He said, 'Oh, you had the home with the wall of pictures.' He didn't say, 'You had the home with the sweeping view of Bennett Valley.' He remembered the wrong thing about my home." That experience told Halpern she needed to explore staging further.

"There's a difference between decorating someone's home to accentuate their lifestyle and staging it to make it welcoming to prospective buyers," Halpern said.