Staging… The Selling Secret!

Let’s face it a house sells faster when it is warm and inviting. Retail buyers have a hard time visualizing their stuff in a bare room or even seeing a newly rehabbed house that is undecorated as a home. A house that is tastefully staged with a few vases of flowers, curtains or even kitchen items placed on a counter will be more inviting to a buyer than an unstaged home. Seasoned Investors know this and will generally either stage themselves or hire a staging service to help them get their new rehab property ready for sale.

You can offer this service to your buyers at a fraction of the cost that a staging company would charge and still make a nice profit. Since you do not have the expensive overhead costs of a standard staging company you can afford to keep your prices low.

Offer your services at a price per room plus an additional amount for the staging items. Many times Investors will already have staging items on hand from the clean out of the house etc…

I am constantly searching yard sales and flea markets for staging items for my rehabs. I find great deals on vases, floral arrangements, even curtains. I am a big fan of wicker baskets since you can put wicker in any decor and make it look good. You can get wicker baskets at a flea market for about 25 cents each and make a great display out of them. I also get many of my staging items from doing clean outs. You will be shocked at the things people leave behind when they lost a home to a foreclosure. I have found some pretty amazing items doing clean outs. More on that in my “Property Clean Out” article.

The important thing about staging is keeping it simple an neutral. By keeping your colors neutral, beige or brown tones,  you will make the home appear warm and appeal to more buyers.  Colors stimulate our senses and set our mood. An example of this is that the color red stimulates hunger which is why almost all fast food restaurants use red in their signs and decor.

You can read more about how to decorate with colors that impact our mood in my Ehow Decorating Article “ How to paint your kids room with colors that impact their mood“.

By keeping it simple and neutral you will avoid any over stimulating as the buyer walks through the house. I like to use wicker, white milk glass or clear vases, white or tan towels in the bathroom… you get the picture.

Bottom line is if you have a buyers list you can email each buyer letting them know that you offer this service along with any other services you would like to offer. You will be surprised how receptive they will be to a friendly email. I now have Investors that contact me for each service that I offer taking the property from one stage to another. It is not a huge money maker but it keep the cash rolling in.

Check out my other creative ways to make money in real estate

Property Cleaning Service

Rental Marketing

Property Clean Outs