Take Down the Red Flag on Real Estate Home Staging!

Atlanta, Georgia June 25, 2007 -- It's time to put your home on the market. You want a quick sale, and top dollar. Or, it could be, with today's slow market, your house has been sitting with no buyer interest, and you are considering a price reduction.

Before you list your home, or take the price reduction, consider using a professional home stager. Many think the cost of staging a home is not worth it. Or, they think that home staging is only for the rich, with big fancy houses. Realtors® and home sellers, who could most benefit from home staging, don't always understand that the small cost can pay dividends in effectiveness.

Home staging is the art of decorating a home to appeal to the most potential buyers. A professional home stager will bring out the house's best features, create a spacious and inviting atmosphere, and work within your budget.

The red flag pops up when the home staging industry touts the frequently used phrase, "Home staging costs less than taking a price reduction!" Although it's true, it doesn't spell out the value to the Realtor® or the home seller. An average price reduction on a home in the Atlanta area can be any where from 1% to 5% of the original asking price. For example, a $300,000 home's average price reduction would be $3,000 to $15,000. Ouch!

Keeping that figure in mind, the cost of a home staging consultation could be a tenth of 1 percent of the selling price. But then, there's the cost of implementing the home stager's recommendations, such as new paint, accent pieces etc. These are optional costs to the seller, but if one thinks about the cost of a price reduction, how much does paint or an accent piece cost? If you have to take a $15,000 cut, using the average maximum price reduction, the seller and Realtor® can evaluate how much of the changes should be made. And if it means selling a house faster, and at a better price, what is that worth?

In the Atlanta area, a two-hour home-stager consultation that includes a complete detailed analysis will generally cost about $150 to $300. The seller and Realtor® can work from there on what changes would be worth the money. The home stager will prioritize the recommendations, and will provide a list of reputable contractors such as painters, handymen, house cleaners, and storage facilities, if he or she feels it necessary.

If you want extra services from a home stager, such as rearranging items in the home, shopping for additional accent items, setting up a home for an open house or other services, you can pay on average $65 per hour or $1,000 per day. But these are strictly optional.

Common sense indicates the expense of setting up a home to be attractive to the most buyers is part of the cost of marketing. If you had a nice luxury car that you wanted to trade in for a new model, but you wanted to sell privately, you'd make it shiny and free of clutter before showing it to anyone. Everything would be working in the car, and it would be immaculate. Preparing a home for sale involves the same process, but since a home’s resale value can offer considerably higher returns than a car, investing in the trained eye of a home stager to highlight its best features just makes sense. That price is small compared to a quick, lucrative sale – a mere pittance against taking a price reduction.

Employing a home stager and benefiting from his or her expertise could cost as little as a tenth of 1 percent of a home's sale price. Considering a home is more than likely the largest investment one has, hiring a home stager becomes more of an investment than a cost. So, take down that red flag!

Peachtree Home Staging currently serves all of metro Atlanta. Peachtree Home Staging was founded by Karen Dembsky, a metro Atlanta resident for the past 27 years, currently living in Peachtree City, Ga.

Contact:
Karen Dembsky, President
Peachtree Home Staging LLC
(770) 595-8809
Email Karen

NOTE TO EDITORS AND PRODUCERS: Karen Dembsky is available for interviews. Contact Karen Dembsky at (770) 595-8809.

Article Source: http://www.prbuzz.com/take-down-the-red-flag-on-real-estate-home-staging-3885.html