When you list your home with Melina or I, a consultation with a Home Stager comes free as part of our service to you.

Excerpts from an online article from Laurel Home.

Do you need to hire a professional stager?

Probably, but not necessarily. First you have to hire a KILLER REALTOR. and I mean one who sleeps with her cell phone surgically attached to her ear. We had one of those and I can’t recommend her highly enough. If you live anywhere near Northern Westchester County, New York and need to sell your home, call Angela Kessel. She’s pretty and really smart and she will sell your place in about two [sometimes it’s three] seconds and get the highest dollar the current market will allow. She returns your emails, even before you hit send. She made the entire process as easy and uncomplicated as could be. HOWEVER. We listened to everything she told us and did what we were told to do!

You can get a lot of FREE HOME STAGING ADVICE from your professional realtor.

BUT…again, you have to LISTEN.
Sorry, if I sound like a patronizing first grade teacher, however, I have seen and heard too much and won’t mention any names but the first rule in home selling IS:

IT’S NOT YOUR HOME ANYMORE.

I know that you love it. I know that the reason you need to sell may be something that’s caused you pain. I know, I know, I know… You raised your kids there. You have 20 years of intense memories and you’ve fixed it up so cute. However, if you’ve lived in your home for more than 2 years, you cannot possibly be objective. Not, even me! No one is!

You must detach and unhook. Go to therapy if you must. I am looking out for your pocket-book here. And your emotions are possibly going to render it penniless. Please don’t do that. Get great advice and follow it to the letter.

In that vein, I am going to channel Angela and some other wonderful designers, stagers and realtors I have spoken with and learned from over the years and give you a list of what you can and MUST do to get top dollar for your home. And yes, most of this you are not going to hear on HGTV or in many other places either. And some of it is going to feel very scary, but just because it feels scary doesn’t mean it will hurt you. :]

•  Assess the comps and come up with a FAIR MARKET VALUE for your home. It doesn’t matter how much you think you NEED or thought you could get 8 years ago. It is not 8 years ago. It is now and you have to price your home right, or it’s just going to sit there and go nowhere and you do not want that. It is death. If anything, you want to price it slightly below market value. If it’s truly a gem, [and it’s going to be] peeps are going to be clawing at each other to get a shot at owning this beauty.  And that price is going to go nowhere but UP!

•  Come up with a reasonable plan for improvements that will yield the highest return.  Now, you can do the work yourself, but I recommend hiring a professional for most of this. This is where a home stager can be very useful. She can coordinate all of it, but please know that this is not inexpensive. [however, most likely worth it]

The more you can do yourself of the grunt work, the more you will save. Therefore, here goes with TEN+ Home Staging Ideas for the Serious Seller

• Clean
• Clear Out, Throw away and store as much as possible, OFFSITE. You want to create the illusion of space and that there’s plenty, plenty room for all of the new owners crap. If they come and see drawers and closets bulging at the seams, they are going to assume that this house lacks storage. And we can’t have that!
• Clean

• and keep cleaning. Make them windows sparkle like nobody’s business.

• It is okay to have NO WINDOW TREATMENTS. [please, please… nothing tacky. If you don’t know if it’s tacky or not, please get professional advice on this.]

• Clean

• Repair everything that needs to be fixed. everything.

• If you have a basement, be sure that it is Radon compliant and FREE OF MOLD!
• Clean
• PAINT—EVERYTHING.  Yes, you must, but if you don’t know what colors to use, then hire a professional for help with that.
• Clean
• If you have hardwood floors under wall-to-wall carpeting then get rid of the wall-to-wall
• Any wall-to-wall that must stay must either be replaced or cleaned if soiled
• refinish hardwood floors if necessary.

• Of course, you can never please everyone, however…

  Look. The vast majority of people don’t even have one clue what they love until they see it. Some people do, but most do not. So, please rest easy. I want you to make gobs and gobs of money. Maybe it’ll help if you think of yourself as a FLIPPER instead of a SELLER. You are living in a fixer-upper, even if you don’t see it that way. And you’re going to make  it into something very special and will make a tidy profit. In other words, you’re going to LOVE IT AND LIST IT!

  Alright. That’s enough for today… More home staging ideas coming soon!

  Next, I am going to give you some home staging ideas that will further help make your home warm and inviting and full of YOUR personality.

  What? Don’t buyers have a problem seeing THEMSELVES in YOUR home if there’s too much of YOU, in it? [eyes rolling]

  No. Just put up lots of mirrors. They’ll see plenty of themselves. ;]

  I think that buyers want to buy a place based on how it makes them FEEL. Yes, a huge part of that is visual, but another component is that they want a place that feels loved, taken care of and welcoming. THAT is what they want! Not some sterile, neutered, stripped-down, cold impersonal dwelling. They are buying a HOME and it needs to be HOMEY!

• And one last thing… No one ever seems to mention this one obvious fact. If you’re a SELLER, that means that at some point, YOU were a BUYER.