The idea is, that a staged home stands out from all the others and therefore gets sold more quickly. It certainly can be carried to extremes with reports of sellers hiring storage units to cart their junk off to. Larger items of furniture are encouraged to be put into storage by professional 'home stagers' so that the house looks bigger and more spacious

Another instruction is to remove anything personal like photographs, so that the prospective buyer can visualize the house as their own. Closets are de-cluttered so that they look more spacious and all bathroom paraphernalia is supposed to be gone from the counter top! Garbage bins are even removed and hidden from sight.

However it has been suggested that home staging can also be deliberately used to hide a multitude of sins!

The National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents (NAEBA, who solely represent buyers in the realty business) has suggested that as much as 82% of buyers are sidetracked from the important issues by a well-staged house. This organization also concedes that home staging nets more cash and faster sales - so it works!

Some of the underhand tricks used in staging can include using smaller furniture to make a room look larger, placing rugs over damaged parts of the floor, or using curtains to hide rotting sills. Also specified is the practice of putting a cheap paint job on to cover defects. Your realtor is legally obligated to let you know of any defects, but only if he actually knows about them!

Buyers are urged by the NAEBA to be cautious and to remember that when the house is sold, the stage is taken away. The tricks of home staging do not improve the floor plan, or the square footage of the home or the quality of the neighborhood, and these are the qualities that you will be re-selling at a later date.

Posted by Joe Pallotta on February 15, 2010 at 07:04 PM

About Joe Pallotta
Joe Pallotta began his real estate career in 1986 as a salesperson at a small independent real estate office on Staten Island. After acquiring his Associate Real Estate Broker’s license, Joe moved onto a large corporate Real Estate office where he began to accumulate the first of many Top Producer awards. In 1991, he accepted the challenge of managing that office. The sales volume of the office steadily improved each year under his direction. After 4 years, the office was franchised by a large New Jersey based real estate firm which had other offices already on Staten Island. In 1995, Joe moved to a large independent office as both a sales manager and a sales associate where he continued his ways as a top producer. That office was also franchised by a large New Jersey based real estate firm in 2001. Again, Joe continued to win Top producer awards. From 2001 through 2006, Joe won a SIBOR Top Producer Award each year as well as 4 corporate Top Producer Awards including 3 President’s Cups, the highest attainable corporate award. At the end of 2006, Joe joined a small independent real estate company to concentrate his efforts solely as a sales associate. His success as a top producer continued as he won another SIBOR Top Producer Award in 2007 and was a top producer in 2008 and 2009 as well. In 2010, Joe joined Coldwell Banker DiTommaso Realty and will continue to concentrate his efforts in listing and selling properties on Staten Island




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