Cincinnati Enquirer Newspaper
312 Elm St. #19
Cincinnati, Ohio  45202 

The following article entitled
 “Staging helps homes make a good first impression”
appeared in the Homes & More section
on Sunday, April 24, 2005 

Staging helps homes make a good first impression
By:  Dave Etienne Contributing Writer 

He was desperate.  His home had been on the market for six months.  It was brand new, in a nice community and the asking price was right, but it just wasn’t selling.  Then he hired a home-staging professional who came in on a Saturday, made a few changes and sold the house on Sunday for his asking price.

This is a true story related by Nancy Buck, Owner of home-staging company It Pays To Stage, in Florence, Ky.  “I started as an interior decorator and I got really good at using what people already have to give their home a new look,” said Buck.  “The only difference is, in decorating you’re doing it to please yourself, but in staging you’re trying to help buyers imagine themselves living in it.”

            The concept of staging a home to sell started in California and is catching on in this area thanks to such shows as HGTV’s “Designed to Sell” and A&E Network’s “Sell This House.”  But perhaps its success is more attributable to people seeing how effective staging can be.  According to real estate and resources provider HomeGain’s 2002 survey of 2,000 real estate agents nationwide, the cost of staging, ranging from $212 to $1,089, resulted in an increase in sales price of between $2,275 and $2,841, an average return of 169 percent.

            Buck offers two levels of staging.  One is the $99.00 consultation, where she provides the homeowner with a list of recommendations such as painting, updating decorations and removing clutter.  The second level is more hands-on—for $299.00, Buck rearranges furniture to make better use of the space, and stylizes the major living areas of the home to make them more inviting and enhance the architectural features of the home.  She also offers staging for vacant homes, drawing from her inventory of furniture, artwork and accessories.  Buck adds, “The investment is always less then the cost of the first price reduction.”

            Local real estate agents know the value of home staging.  Gayle Mahoney Pfirrmann is a second-generation real estate advisor for Sibcy Cline in Montgomery.  She and her partner Rob Mahoney (the third generation) have developed a list of key areas to help their clients prepare and plan for their listing.  “If you set the stage it helps to sell your home quickly for top dollar,” she explained.  Her list includes rearranging main rooms to enhance the floor plan, depersonalizing rooms by removing photos and other knick-knacks, punching up the exterior with plantings and mulch, and having all windows professionally cleaned.  She also advises setting the tables in both the kitchen and dining areas to make them inviting.

            One final note of advice from Pfirrmann: “Always have a professional home inspection before putting your home on the market so you know what needs to be fixed.”

            Mindy Graeter, sales vice president for Comey & Shepherd in Montgomery, knows that selling a home is partly emotional, and staging helps tap into those feelings.  “The buyer falls in love with the house because they can see themselves living in it.  I’ve taken buyers through a house and they were deciding where they were going to put their furniture.”

            Graeter has been offering staging as part of her services as a real estate agent for 11 years.  She keeps laundry baskets of “props” in her garage.  “I have things like mirrors for over a fireplace, area rugs, clean kitchen towels, and wreaths and welcome mats for the front door.  I’m basically trying to make the house look like a model home.”

            If you’re selling your home, staging can make it look like a “star.”

Dave Etienne is a Cincinnati-based free-lance writer.