7 On Your Side: Home Staging Could Help Sell Your House

Authored by: JoAnne Purtan  -  Published in: Channel 7

Created on: 2005-08-01

When it comes to real estate these days, it’s definitely a buyer’s market. But there’s a new service that can give sellers a real advantage. It’s called home staging.

Home staging is preparing a house for a quick and profitable sale. For $100 or more, you can hire a designer to show you how to add visual appeal to your home. Home staging has been popular on the west coast for some time. Now it’s being used to sell Michigan homes.

From the street, we looked at a 3 bedroom ranch that looked like it had potential. And after several weeks on the market, there was an offer on it. But the one offer that came in was way below what its owners were looking for, so professional home stager Darla Rowley was called in.

"Wow this house has potential, I can already see it. We have some work to do."

Feedback from other realtors who had shown the house had already identified two problems. The first was the shag carpet – orange shag, yellow shag, blue shag.

Mahmoud Gasama, the real estate agent, said "The first thing they said was, ‘wow, the carpeting looks kinda ugly.’"

The second thing was the dark wood in the kitchen and family room. Very stylish in it’s time, but says Darla Rowley, "It feels very 1970’s right now so we want to freshen it up and bring it up into this decade."

Darla saw a number of other problems that could be solved with home staging

"It can involve things as simple as rearranging existing furniture and decluttering and organization. Or it can be a little more extensive depending on the condition of the home," said Rowley.

What was in store for the house? Almost every room would get an update. From the dark family room to the bright yellow master bedroom, the goal is to make it appealing to the largest number of potential buyers.

"You want to neutralize the space and still leave it warm and inviting," Rowley said.

So a work crew pulled out shrubs, prepared to paint, and snagged the shag. About a week later, the 7 Action News team went to see the transformation.

The changes were dramatic, beginning in the foyer.

The entryway that had been covered with gold-veined mirrors and printed wallpaper was now dramatic.

"We painted the wall, not white, but a neutral color and then we brought in rental art on this wall to make a large impact," Rowley said.

The change continued along the main hallway.

But, perhaps the biggest impact was in the kitchen. The dark cabinets got a coat of fresh paint and new hardware. The ceiling fan and chandelier were replaced with matching fixtures and the dark counter of the desk area was covered with tile left over from the floor.

The dining room had been bare. But the homeowner, who had already moved to her new home, brought back her dining room set. And then new drapes were hung.

The living room had also been empty, with off white walls, peach-colored drapes and a window with wood colored trim. Darla painted the window trim white, the wall around it green, and removed the drapes. She added some of the homeowners’ treasures and rented other furniture pieces.

She explained it this way: "Because people have a hard time visualizing a space until they see the furniture put in a functional way."

The family room had originally looked like something out of the Brady Bunch. Job one in this room was to take up the rust colored shag carpets

"Low and behold we pull them up and there are these incredible hardwood floors below, so it's really a selling point for the home," noted Darla the home stager.

Add some modern furnishings and tasteful accessories and you have a very welcoming room.

The peach bathroom with bright wallpaper and dark cabinets got a neutral makeover. The only cost was for paint, cabinet hardware, and inexpensive art.

And the yellow of the master bedroom, which looked harsh on our first visit, was sunny and welcoming once the rug was removed and an inflatable bed was dressed with inexpensive linens.

In all, the homeowner paid about $3,000 for the consultation, the materials, landscaping, labor and furniture rental.