Twenty-six percent of the sellers that received offers above list price in the Zillow report had paid to have their home professionally staged.
Like interior decorators, professional home stagers know their colors, fabrics, and furniture, and they know how to arrange them so your home looks its best. Unlike an interior decorator, however, stagers are experts in making homes appeal to the broadest cross-section of tastes. They know how to accent your home’s best features and – this is important – they know how to remove clutter that can be a turn-off for buyers. Be ready to move or store most of your possessions so the stager can do her magic. Amanda Van Veen, a property appraiser with Braese Associates in Boston, said staging is a key tool that sellers often overlook. “It helps people picture room layouts and adds warmth to the space if a home is vacant,” she said.