When it came time to sell my old house, it was time to get help as I knew I hadn’t followed any of your typical decorating rules. A friend, a professional organizer recommended two home stagers and I ended up working with both of them. The first stager gave me an extensive list of projects to get the home ready for sale. The second home stager took charge of shopping and managing the overall project, and we’ve collaborated on many projects since.

Color is a key component of home staging and even home stagers will offer different strategies. My red kitchen was my pride and joy — I almost cried when I finally accepted the red had to go, and that’s when I knew the house was no longer my home. READ MORE

The magic in home staging is the unattached, unemotional perspective of someone representing prospective buyers. To illustrate this point, you’ll find it fascinating that even a home stager … needs to hire another stager to prepare their home for sale. That’s because emotional attachments will win over logic and everyone needs help letting go of their stuff.

Homes in the US are among the largest found anywhere in the world. As family sizes are smaller, that means we’ve got more space for each member of the household so how is the space being used? and more important, how does this space influence prospective buyers? READ MORE

Home staging is a relatively new service, helping homeowners prepare a home for sale. Think about your experience flipping through a decorating magazine, how you react to certain rooms and want to transport them into your home. In the same way, a home stager looks at each room and identifies the best way to showcase your homes best features for prospective buyers.

Where a Realtor® might suggest certain rooms be painted, a home stager goes further and recommends the new paint colors, changes to the window treatments to make the room lighter and brighter, and so much more. READ MORE

Home staging includes an assessment of your home’s appeal and recommended changes to prepare your home for sale. A home stager brings a fresh perspective to your home, identifying the best features to hilight plus a list of changes to attract the greatest number of home buyers. Advice ranges from color choices, furniture placement, removing clutter, de-personalizing, accessories, etc. Many home stagers offer services like shopping, painting and rent accessories to save busy homeowners time.

Home staging is also a great idea to give your your home a fresh look, and so much more affordable than moving. Maybe you’ve already moved and need to rent your home? Home staging is a great way to showcase homes, condos and apartments for rent. READ MORE

My experience for this article comes from being a frequent home buyer and not a Realtor. As the owner of a handyman business, I participate in a wonderful online real estate community called Active Rain where I get insight into the real estate market which is incredibly valuable during these challenging economic times.

There have been several articles on teamwork that made me realize that almost every successful home sale isn’t because of one person, but rather a team of people working towards a common goal. When you buy or sell a home, you are building a team and ideally everyone looks at the relationship as a partnership, much the way you must partner with your doctor, accountant or attorney. READ MORE