Make Your House Look its Best Before Selling
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Authored by: Meri K. Ross - Published in: Greenwich Citizen
Created on: 2004-12-17
Anyone who has sold a house knows that it can be a daunting task. Will potential buyers see the same charm you saw when you bought your home? How can you get the best price for your home? Will it even sell?
Deborah Novick and Jill Steinberg started Showcase Your Space to help clients simplify the selling process by making their homes look their best for potential buyers.
“Staging, the process of getting a home ready to sell by highlighting its features, function and live-ability, is an established business on the West Coast and has been since the 1970s,” said Novick, a Riverside native. “It has just begun to be a trend on the East Coast.”
The duo, who are trained and accredited by the International Association of Home Staging Professionals, launched the business in April and since then Novick, a former broker on Wall Street, and Steinberg, who has a background in marketing and sales, have staged quite a few homes in the Greenwich-Stamford area. Novick said they chose Greenwich because it is a quality community and because there are so many beautiful homes in the area.
“We will stage any residential property, including new homes, older homes, apartments and condominiums," said Novick.
“Buyers are looking for one of two things, the perfect house or ways to reduce the price. We are helping our clients create that perfect home.”
Staging works through a two-step process. First, Novick and Steinberg go to a property for an in-home visit. The initial consultation fee is $450.
“We take a couple hours to look through everything from the living area to the attic and basement to the property. We examine everything a potential buyer would look at,” Novick said.
Once the visit is over, the pair creates a personalized recommendation for the property. Basically it’s a list of things a seller should do before putting the house up for sale.
“The most obvious things we focus on are signs of neglect, things that need to be repaired, things that are dirty,” said Novick.
“We tell them, pack this, hide that, paint this, clean that, and fix this.”
Next, if the seller wishes, the pair will actually stage the house for sale. The fee is approximately $1000 a day, depending on the size of the house and what needs to be done.
“We will do minor repairs and painting jobs,” Novick said. “But for most of that type of thing we recommend local professionals.”
They will even manage the process of hiring the professionals and overseeing the tasks as well if the owner requests it.
“One of the first things we do is have our clients remove items that aren’t needed in a room,” Novick continued. “Anything that is in a room should be there for a specific reason. That way you’re drawing the eye to the beautiful window or other positive architecture detail of the home that makes the house special or unique instead of the clutter in the room.”
Furniture in a room should hide flaws or show the scale of the room, explained Novick. Buyers want to see if a dining room can accommodate a table that seats eight or 10 or 12, or if a bedroom will be big enough for a king-sized bed.
“We help the seller create a neutral palate in the room,” said Novick. “All personal pictures and knick knacks are gone. As a buyer I don’t want to see how beautifully your children live in the house. I want to imagine how my kids will live there."
“We want to create a home that potential buyers can see right away what it would be like if they lived there.”
Since many times a client will still have to live in the home after it has been staged, Showcase Your Space leaves them with a system so they can leave the house every day the way it needs to look so it can sell.
And, according to the Wall Street Journal and several top real estate companies, staging can increase a selling price from 2 to 15 percent.
“Many homeowners don’t feel they have to earn the equity in their home,” said Novick.
“But you can’t get the money out of your house if someone isn’t willing to pay your price. We help your home sell for its best price.”
Article entered in the Staged Homes System: 2005-01-06
