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STAGE® YOUR HOME, SELL YOUR HOUSE - Good marketing goes beyond "just" cleaning up
By Joan Soltys

When Barb Schwarz walks into a home for sale, she virtually begins to Stage® it. She removes personal items from view, replaces some art and other objects, adds accent pieces, moves furniture and generally reduces clutter and opens up floor and wall space.

It's all part of a proven method of getting a house ready to sell, a method Schwarz said helps to sell a home faster, or for more money.

The process - Schwarz's trademarked method - is called Staging®. Schwarz  is the creator of the Staging® concept, which makes a marked difference in how potential home buyers see a house for sale. Simply cleaning up around the house, before a real estate broker and potential buyers show up to look through, is not always enough.

"The way you live in a home and the way you market it and sell it, are two different things," Schwarz said.

The process is common sense. So Schwarz's advice to sellers is practical:

• Clear all unnecessary objects from furniture. Keep decorative objects on furniture restricted to groups of one, three or five items. Clear kitchen countertops. If something hasn't been used for three months, put it away. Remove messages, pictures - even those cute ones of puppies and kittens - from the refrigerator front. All of this sets a buyer's mind to planning. "A sparse room helps the buyer mentally move their own things into (your home)," Schwarz said.
• Do the same minimalizing in the bathroom. Coordinate towels to one or two colors only.
• Rearrange or remove some of the furniture if necessary. "When it comes to selling, we need to thin out as much as possible to make rooms appear larger," is Schwarz's advice.
• Take down or rearrange photographs or objects on walls. This depersonalizes the house, because as Schwarz says, "you're selling the room, not the family."
• Clean carpets or drapes that need it. Clean windows. Patch and paint walls if necessary. Make sure there are no lingering odors and mind Schwarz's motto "If you can smell it, we can't sell it."
• Outside, move all garbage cans, discarded wood scraps, and extra building materials into the garage. Clear patios of toys and barbecue. Check gutters, and or, roof for dry rot, and make sure they are swept and cleaned.
• Remove any dead plants from planting areas. Prune the bushes and trees and keep them from blocking windows.
• Pack up whatever you can, because you are moving anyway. Might as well get an early start!"

These are just a few of the guidelines an Accredited Staging® Professional™ will work with," Schwarz said. "The advantage", she said, "to having one of these professionals do the Staging® work, is that they come to a home without carrying the personal history of the homeowner, and see a house as a thing to sell."

BEFORE & AFTER PHOTOS - STAGING IN ACTION

"I've never met a house I haven't Staged®," Schwarz said.

Having perfected her Staging® technique, Schwarz is now making the same training available to any agent or anyone wanting to own a Staging® business. Staging® trainees spend a day in the classroom, then go out to stage® a home. After completing the training, they earn the designation of ASP, Accredited Staging® Professional™

Schwarz teaches the course in the Northwest, and has licensed other instructors to teach her course in most areas of the US and in Canada.

She also privately stages® homes for people - even homes that are not going on the market. She does a one-day redecoration, giving a home a new look by working with what is already there, or by doing personal shopping to add a new accessory or two.

Schwarz also provides a decorating service for new homeowners. She will supervise the moving van and help the new owners move in and place their furniture and accessories properly about the house.

A third part of her business includes her Staging® Partners. One of them is Shurgard International Storage Company  which can provide an onsite storage unit for furniture and other large items for a house that has too much in it.
Brook Furniture, another Staging® Partner, offers help with furniture rental.  Others will help homeowners find gravel for the driveway, carpet cleaners, even local housecleaning help.

Schwarz, also has a 12 foot truck for her personal use in Staging®.  The truck holds furniture and other accessories Schwarz can use to temporarily add to a home when staging it.  It carries an inventory of tables, chairs, end-tables, lamps, statues, artwork, mirrors, large bouquets and plants, towels, wicker furniture, a table draped to the floor and china and glasses to set the table, etc.

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