To stage or not to stage--the answer is yes for real estate listings to sell~

I just looked at the new listing for my young friend's home in West Seattle and saw immediately the value of good staging. It had been listed for a few months with no results. I was happy to refer her to a great Windermere agent who has done a beautiful job getting her place ready to be seen, loved and sold.

Since I hadn't been to the house, I had to compare the before and after photos. The first agent simply pulled out his camera and shot the rooms the way they were, clean, tidy and lived in. When I looked at his photos, my eye was distracted, the rooms looked unbalanced and unappealing. What a difference with the new listing. The Windermere agent staged the house with the furnishings already there, moving things around and adding color. All of a sudden I can see how warm and beautiful the rooms are with designer paint and great woodwork (amazing--those things were there before but I hadn't noticed.) The kitchen looks sparkling and inviting with tall pots of forsythia and artfully placed accessories. The master bedroom looks serene and stylish, with a bedspread I hadn't even noticed in the "before" shots.

I suspect the staging didn't cost a thing, but a good agent knows just what to put away and what to place on a shelf or counter to make a house "sing." Since close to 90% of buyers in the demographic likely to buy this home will see it first online, it's crucial that the pictures are beautiful, tell a story, and invite a visit! Seems like this is going to be a success story. I just heard from her agent that the broker's tour was a huge success and they had three showings yesterday.

PS~ The photo in this blog entry is not my friend's house, but from one of my listings after I had staged it to sell. I worked most of an afternoon rearranging their wonderful possessions, moving furniture, rehanging paintings, putting away toys and clutter and adding color to make the home's details pop. The living room seemed to double in size with some simple adjustments. We sold this one the first week.