Home Staging (1st Draft)
What Does ‘Staging’ a Home Mean?Staging is the process of preparing a home for sale, regardless of price, condition, or location. Geni Manning is an Accredited Staging Professional, who will bring a fresh eye to the home and use a proven set of guidelines, to work with you room by room, inside and outside your home. Each step helps transform your “home” into a “property for sale” and ultimately a marketable product.
As the homeowner, each room of your house has a history and is attached to memories. Geni will see your home the way a buyer would – without all of the history that you bring to it. This will allow her to make sharper, more realistic and decisive choices about the home. The end results will earn you top dollar and allow your property to sell in the quickest time possible.
Why Is Staging Your Home Important?
When it comes to selling your home, making your home stand out and shine to any potential buyer can mean the difference between getting your dream offer, or having your home languish on the market as the sale price plummets. That is to say, staging your home is important.
When you get ready to place your home on the market for sale, it becomes a product, and similar to a product on the shelf at your local store, the product has features and benefits as well as pluses and minuses, but most importantly it has ‘Competition.’To beat the competition in any market, your product must be priced right, and look better than the other products on the shelf. For example; imagine you are walking through a grocery store and you see two cans of green beans. Both cans are exactly the same, except, one is dusty and dented, while the other appears to be in excellent condition. Which can of beans would you chose? The clean, well maintained product, right?Selling your home is no different. Another example of marketing a product for sale is ‘Auto Detailing’ when you are going to sell a pre-owned car. When people decide to sell their used car they will have no qualms in spending $200-$500 on an auto detailing job. If the car they are selling has a $10,000.00 asking price, and you spend $200, that is 2% of the asking price. These same sellers will remove any defects from the car and make it look like it just rolled off the lot. So why wouldn’t you do the same process for your home with a smaller % investment compared to the price of your home--your biggest investment?Your home is one of many homes for sale in the marketplace, therefore you must present it to potential homebuyers in the best way possible… the first time… and every time. That’s why it is so important to ‘Stage’ your property first, before putting it on the market. Any real estate agent can tell you that the majority of showings happen within the first 2 weeks of putting a house on the market. Since you only get one chance to make that first impression, does it not stand to reason that you want every person who walks through your door to see your property in it’s best light?It’s important to clean every inch of your home before you put it on the market, but don’t make the mistake of making your home so clean that it’s actually empty. One or two key pieces of furniture will help give potential buyers a frame of reference for a room’s size, and it will help buyers picture themselves in the home. The key to this balance is to de-personalize. Keep just the essentials and the universal items on display.In today’s competitive real estate market, properties that are not ‘move-in ready’ are often crossed off the potential buyer’s list, even though your house may actually be the perfect property. While all potential buyers have their own style and taste, buyers today live extremely busy lives, and are often two income families looking for ‘move in ready’ spaces. We recommend you transform your property to ‘move in ready.’ Potential buyers will see that they can move in, and then slowly make changes to fit their personal taste and lifestyle.
A Show home is a "SOLD" home! 
Benefits of Properly Staging A Pre-Owned Home ‘Staged Homes’ look better than competing homes for sale.‘Staged Homes’ sell Faster.‘Staged Homes’ sell for more money in most markets.Photos of ‘Staged Homes’ look better in print and internet advertising.Agents working with buyers recognize ‘Staged Homes’ as properties ready to sell and are more likely to show your home.Thanks to shows like ‘Designed to Sell’ and ‘Sell This House’ ‘Staged Homes’ are recognized by savvy buyers as the best properties to see. Buyers and Inspectors view ‘Staged Homes’ as properties that have been well maintained and cared for. Appraisers are more likely to appraise ‘Staged Homes’ at full value.Clutter Eats Equity! Only necessities should be left out. Start packing now, because you are going to be moving soon anyway! Decluttering and rearranging a room can improve the presentation and the traffic patterns. Properly placed furniture helps buyers imagine how to use the space.We offer FREE staging to all our real estate clients.Our goal is to assist our clients in preparing the home for sale by staging it with traditional concepts and show them how to integrate new styling cues into their home to create a new, fresh and timeless look! VACANT HOMESUsing our ‘Hometender’ service is an innovative, dynamic marketing strategy created for the purpose of enhancing the sale of vacant homes…This will give you a competitive edge! Geni has used this marketing tool for over 15 years with much success and highly recommends!Geni and the homtender company carefully select individuals who have qualified to become home managers by owning beautiful quality furnishings and accessories. Geni, as a ‘Certified Professional Stager’ along with professional interior decorators, help place their items in the home to create a model home like atmosphere.This service normally cost the seller $1500-$3500 depending on the size of the home, but OUR clients have absolutely NO cost! While the home is on the market for sale, the ‘Hometender’ will do ALL the work and carry the burden of all the expenses at NO COST to you. They will:Beautifully furnish, professionally decorate & stage the property like a modelHelp reduce holding costsPay for lawn maintenance cost, i.e.: mowing, edging, blowing, trimmingPay monthly pool cleaning costsEliminate interior cleaning costs during the marketing cycleOn-site management24 hour protection by protecting the home from theft and vandalismPresent the property daily from 9 am to 9 pm in an appealing mannerWhen the home sells, the hometender leaves the home clean and fresh for the new ownerBenefits To The Seller: Home shows better: With furniture which provides better photos and virtual tours for the internet shopper gives buyers a ‘warm fuzzy’ feeling, instead of ‘cold lonely’ feeling.If you have some areas in the home that need repair or updating, the furniture and décor takes the attention off those areas…when it’s vacant, that is ALL they have to look at!Competitive edge: A tastefully furnished, well maintained home creates an atmosphere of increased value in the mind of a buyer.Distressed sale image: We remove that "desperate, distressed signal" that a vacant house gives to a buyer…therefore you get a contract with a higher price!Room Functions: We remove misconceptions that a vacant house gives to room sizes and functionality.Your showings will increase when Hometender is there to present the home in its best condition by having all the lights on, fireplace going, spa running, music on and pleasant air fresheners.The home remains on lockbox and in MLS and can be shown at a moment’s notice 7 days a week. Hometender provides curb appeal and backyard maintenance…All of this at NO cost to you!Reduced insurance premiums and/or more comprehensive coverageProtection against deterioration and repair issues are detected earlier which can prevent extreme damageProperty value is maintained: A tastefully furnished home typically sells faster and for a higher price. Bottom line, by allowing us to have your home staged like a ‘Model,’ it will sell FASTER at a HIGHER PRICE! This Innovative and Creative marketing idea for vacant homes has been featured on CBS, CNN, CNBC, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Our Home Show and in major publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post and many others. Let us convert your vacant property into a beautiful Show home and get the price you deserve!
