Or consider Rachel Ouellette, whose 75-year-old farmhouse sits on the side of a highway. Other than the cars whizzing by outside, Ouellette saw little traffic in the first few months her house was on the market. Aware that the home’s “cozy-country” style of decorating, its unusual floor plan, and lack of neighborhood access might make it difficult to sell, Ouellette hired Inglis to stage it. The farmhouse sold within four months.

Behind The Scenes
So, what exactly do stagers do? They typically work from the outside in, first aiming for curb appeal, and then tackling the home on a room-by-room basis by rearranging, removing, or even introducing new furniture and accessories.

In the case of Herbert’s NoDa home, Touchton made certain decisions in response to negative comments from potential buyers who had previously toured the house. The narrow living room, for instance, made it difficult for buyers to imagine its functionality. Touchton expanded the image of the room with a new furniture layout, to make it both livable and practical. She staged an extra bedroom as a modern office space, and filled an awkward void in a kitchen corner with a stylish baker’s rack, replete with accessories and cookbooks. Outside, she assisted with the cleanup of debris, to boost the home’s curb appeal.

In Ouellette’s home, Inglis updated everything related to the interior, including the installation of new flooring, new countertops, and a fresh coat of paint on all walls. To address the somewhat-dated cozy-country décor, Inglis gave the farmhouse a sleeker, more contemporary look, making it possible for potential buyers to envision their own furniture and accessories within the walls of the home. “Joan made it more appealing to a broad range of people,” says Ouellette, who admits that her décor was personal to her own taste and distinctive to the age of the home. “She even put up window treatments that I wanted to keep for myself,” she adds, with a laugh.

(Left) Simple things, like creating place settings at a kitchen counter and tucking stools underneath, help potential  buyers better visualize actually living in the home.
(Center) Staging professionals advise keeping the space clean and uncluttered.
(Right) Placing towels and toiletries in the powder room is an effective staging technique that anyone can use.

Premiering In Charlotte
While staging has long been popular in other areas of the country, it has only recently become mainstream here in The Queen City. The CIRC members, who are required to follow strict standards, garnered the Chapter Excellence Award in 2008. Each chapter member owns and operates his or her own business, and is insured. All have earned the industry’s coveted accreditations, which include the ASP (accredited staging professional) and ASPM (accredited staging professional master). CIRC services include consultations, bids, and proposals.

The CIRC has a mantra: “Vacant doesn’t make it.” Most buyers can’t visualize what they can’t see, and vacant homes don’t typically dazzle prospective buyers. So, stagers maintain an inventory of furniture and accessories, sometimes even renting needed items. That way, they can furnish a home if necessary, to highlight its strengths.

Clutter, however, is never a strength, as Inglis points out. “Clutter eats equity,” she says. “Open up the space. Keep with the focal point. Sell the square footage, not the seller’s furniture. Depersonalize, add a little color, and remember, less is more.”

Realtors, who consider staging to be a listing tool, recognize the value of staging and believe they have better luck with staged listings versus non-staged ones. “I just sold a (staged) house in NorthStone (in Huntersville) in 18 days!” says Shirley Ranson, a Realtor® with the Ranson Team.

Creating A Fabulous First Impression
Today’s homebuyers have so many choices that now, more than ever, the old cliché holds true: You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Ranson agrees. “When we take a listing, it’s very important that the house is absolutely perfect as soon as the sign goes out and my lockbox goes on the door,” she says. Making relatively simple changes, such as the addition of fresh flowers, new throw pillows, dust ruffles or new bedspreads, along with cleaning light fixtures and windows, can make a tremendous difference.

A staged home reaps a wealth of benefits, including a faster selling time, a higher sale price, and a greater return on one’s investment. To quantify those benefits, consider that a home’s average time on the market with staging is 35 days. Staged homes spend 80 percent less time on the market, and the process can add as much as 5 percent to the home’s value.

Additionally, a staged home allows for a more professional image on flyers and Web sites — especially important since Internet photos often determine how many times a property is shown. The average buyer views a typical online property listing approximately three seconds before clicking to the next. Once on site, buyers decide if they like a home within the first 30 seconds of walking inside.

“So many people shop online now, and those pictures are so important,” says Kathy Humbert, with The Allen Tate Company. “If there are three of the same style of home in a neighborhood and one shows better, that one sells.”

According to Humbert, sellers often underestimate the power of taking a hard look at the appearance of a home. “A lot of times people have lived in their homes for so long that they get comfortable with the way they’re living and don’t realize that it does need to look different for a buyer,”she says. Fortunately, the answer might be found center stage. TCW