Synopses & Reviews
Do you want to sell your home at a premium price now?
If you want to sell it fast, and for more money, you need to stagethat is, you need to package your home in a way that emphasizes its strengths, downplays its weaknesses, and immediately appeals to prospective buyers. According to 91% of realtors, home staging is the way to go.
But you dont need to pay a professional thousands of dollars to give your home a strategic makeover. In Home Staging That Works, youll learn all the secrets, tricks, and techniques of the trade.
Staging is all about making a spectacular first impression on a buyer, and staging expert Starr C. Osborne gives you step-by-step, room-by-room instructions on what to do, keep, toss, fix, paint, replace, avoid, update, show, hide, highlight, and more. First, she teaches you how to see what a buyer sees. (Beware: that buyer will probably notice more about your house in 30 seconds than youve noticed in the last two years.) Then, she shows you how to make your home look big, bright, warm, and welcomingin short, everything the buyer has been looking for.
In Home Staging That Works, youll learn how to:
Focus on your potential buyers tastes (not your own).
Create curb appeal.
Drive Internet interest with photos that flatter your home.
De-clutter and pre-pack at the same time.
Clean and repair your home without spending a fortune.
Keep your home sale-readywithout being afraid to live in it.
Packed with bulleted must-do lists, real-home examples, and 65 photosmany before and afterto illustrate the dramatic difference staging makes, Home Staging That Works demonstrates how easy and rewarding it can be to redesign your home for the ideal buyer.
Starr C. Osborne is owner and founder of Tailored Transitions, one of the nations premier home staging, interior design, and moving-management companies. Visit her website at www.tailoredtransitions.com and her blog and tweets at StagingStarr.
Review
Pragmatic advice that any and every home seller needs to memorize and follow. --Booklist
Synopsis
Want to sell your home at a premium pricenow? Never mind simply tidying up: an amazing 91% of real estate professionals say professional staging is the way to go. But sure enough, hiring a staging consultant will cost you. Thankfully, you can now get all the secrets and techniques the pros dont want you to know, from one of Americas most successful staging experts.
Home Staging That Works shows you how to turn any home into a showpiece that buyers will be fighting over. With specific recommendations on what to do, keep, chuck, fix, paint, replace, avoid, update, show, hide, highlight, and more, youll learn how to:
Focus on your potential buyers tastes (not your own) Create curb appeal Drive Internet interest with photos that flatter your home De-clutter and pre-pack at the same time Clean and repair your home without spending a fortune Keep your home sale-readywithout being afraid to live in it
Complete with photographs of real-life before-and-after transformations, Home Staging That Works offers strategies for each room in your home, as well as conceptual approaches to bring the parts together beautifully. Your home is a magical place waiting for the right buyer to fall in love. Make the match happen with Home Staging That Works!
About the Author
STARR C. OSBORNE (Philadelphia, PA) is owner and founder of Tailored Transitions, Philadelphias premiere home staging, moving-management, and design company.
Table of Contents
FEATURES
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER ONE: STAGING FOR THE RIGHT AUDIENCE
What Is Staging?
Out with the You: Disengaging from Your Home
Saying Good-Bye to Your Home
Five Ways to Say Good-Bye
In with the New: Figuring Out Your Target Market
Looking at the Overall Statistics
Asking the Pros: Interviewing Realtors
Understanding the Generations
Baby Boomers
What Boomers Want
Generation Jones
What Jonesers Want
Generation X
What Gen Xers Want
Generation Y
What Gen Yers Want
Media Influence on the Generations
Deciding on Your Target Generation
Determining Your Market by the Time Youve Spent in Your Home
The Next Step: Creating a Great First Impression
CHAPTER TWO: FIRST IMPRESSIONS
The First Look: Attracting Internet Shoppers
The Drive-By: Making the Most of a Buyers Second Look
Staging the Exterior
The Approach: Driveways and Walks
The Front Yard
Creating a Staged Garden
The Faade: Looking Good
The Front Door
Other Outside Entry Ideas
The Inside Entry: Creating a Sense of Welcome
Begin with Your Hall Closet
Provide Seating if Possible
Unclutter the Space
Make Use of Mirrors
Work with Color
Impressing Your Target Buyer
If Time and Money Are Short
The Next Step: Creating Space
CHAPTER THREE: CREATING SPACE
Taking the You Out of Your Home
Prepacking
Why Not Show Your Home Empty?
If Uncluttering Seems Utterly Overwhelming
When Couples Differ in Uncluttering Ability
Help Children Unclutter
A Silver Lining to the Staging Process
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize
Everything You Need to Know About Boxes
What Boxes to Use
Supplies for Packing
Out with the Personal and Possibly Contentious
Removing Objects with Possibly Contentious Affiliations
Removing All Photographs and Portraits
Deciding What Furniture and Rugs to Remove
Removing Freestanding Bookcases and Entertainment Centers
Removing Rugs That Are Too Stained or Too Small for the Space
Removing Selected Furniture and Rugs
Clearing the Decks and the Depths: Advanced Uncluttering
Uncluttering All Lateral Surfaces
Tackling Closets and Drawers
Clearing Hallways
Uncluttering Mudrooms and Vestibules
Uncluttering the Kitchen
Uncluttering Bathrooms
Your Home Office
Uncluttering the Dining Room and Living Room
Uncluttering Bookcases
Uncluttering Bedrooms
Uncluttering Guest Rooms, Sewing Rooms, and Multipurpose Rooms
Uncluttering the Laundry Area
Managing Pets and Their Paraphernalia
Uncluttering Porches and Patios
Uncluttering Basements, Garages, and Outbuildings
Revisiting Your Clutter Hot Spots
Double-Checking Your Uncluttering Through a Camera Lens
Recognizing What You Have Accomplished
If Time and Money Are Short
The Next Step: Fixing and Cleaning
CHAPTER FOUR: WHAT TO FIX AND HOW TO CLEAN
How Do You Know What to Fix?
Do a Walk-Through with an Observant Outsider
Get a Preinspection
Why You Cant Just Ignore Whats Broken
Commonly Needed Repairs
Yards and Gardens
Gutters and Downspouts
Roofs
Air-Conditioning Condensers and Trash Cans
Driveways and Walkways
Decks, Terraces, and Fences
Windows from the Outside
terior Wall and Trim Paint
Interior Walls and Ceilings
Overhead Lighting and Ceiling Fans
Windows from the Inside
Staircases
Wall-to-Wall Carpeting
Flooring
Doors and Doorways
Kitchens
Bathrooms
Clean Is What Sells
Yards and Gardens
Roofs and Exterior Walls
Windows
Interior Walls and Ceilings
Overhead Lighting and Ceiling Fans
Floors and Carpets
Kitchens
Bathrooms
Laundry Rooms
Fireplaces, Radiators, and Other Heat-Related Objects
Basements, Attics, Garages, and Outbuildings
If Time and Money Are Short
The Next Step: Setting the Stage
CHAPTER FIVE: SETTING THE STAGE
Deciding Each Rooms Purpose
Targeting Room Usage to Your Most Likely Buyers
Creating Vignettes That Charm Your Buyers
Avoiding Multipurpose Rooms When Possible
Thinking About Flow
Finding Each Rooms Architectural Focus
Using Color
Complementary Colors
Warm versus Cool Colors
Moods Associated with Particular Colors
Color as a Generational Cue
Generational Preferences for Color and Design Aesthetics
Identifying and Remedying Each Rooms Hierarchy of Colors
Creating Balance
Avoiding Heavily Imbalanced Room Usage
Balancing the Style Throughout Your Home
Balancing the Furniture Within Each Room
Choosing Artwork to Suit Your Buyers
Using Mirrors to Enhance Spaces
Balancing the Light and Dark in Each Room
Staging the Key Rooms in Your Home
Styling the Kitchen and Dining Room to Sell
Styling the Living Room to Sell
Styling Bedrooms to Sell
Styling Childrens Rooms to Sell
Styling Guest Rooms to Sell
Styling the Home Office to Sell
Styling Bathrooms to Sell
Going Back over Your Home as a Whole
If Time and Money Are Short
The Next Step: Presenting Your Home to Buyers
CHAPTER SIX: PRESENTING YOUR HOME TO BUYERS
Using the Power of the Cameras Eye
Taking Another Walk-Through with a Camera
Staying Involved if Someone Else Takes Your Photos
If You Have Just Two Weeks to Do It All
Keeping Your Home Presentable While Youre Showing It
INDEX