Home Stagers

Home stagers are people who help you prepare your home for sale so that the positive attributes of your home are highlighted.

Home stagers should not be confused with interior designers or decorators who interpret your needs and tastes and incorporate these preferences into a design. A home stager's goal is to depersonalize your home so that it does not reflect your personality, but appeals to the broadest group of home buyers.

The pages within this site are designed and written so that anyone can stage their own home. Just follow our three-step staging plan and you will have a perfectly staged home when you finish.

If, however, time is not on your side or you just don't want to tackle this job all by yourself, you can hire a professional home stager to do these jobs for you.

To find a home stager in your area it is best to contact local real estate professionals who use staging services regularly and ask for a referral. This way, you can find a home stager that is familiar with the market conditions in your area and who is tuned in to what buyers are looking for in your town. We can't stress enough how important it is to get a stager who is active in your community and real estate pros know who the good ones are.

The other ways of finding a home stager are to look in a directory such as the yellow pages or online. In both of these cases, you don't get that first-hand recommendation or referral -- and it could cost you time and money if you get someone that isn't qualified to handle your job. You need someone that will get your job done on-budget and on-time. Referrals from friends or neighbors also can work, but make sure you see the stager's portfolio or an actual home that they've staged.

The costs and fees for home staging vary by area of the country, city or region. Stagers are not licensed or unionized and they can charge any price that they determine is fair and that the market will bear. As a rule of thumb, the hourly rate for a stager should be in line with other tradespeople that work on your home such as a handyman or carpet installer. Home stager hourly rates are not usually as high as a unionized carpenter or interior designer. As is the case with most things, it depends. If the stager is slow during a certain week, rates might be a bit cheaper than busier times of the year. Or if you have a very large home, you might pay home stagers less per room than if you have a 3 room house.

The most important consideration is: Will the home stager's services be good enough and fairly priced enough that your home will sell quickly and for more money than it would have if it were not properly staged? If you can answer "yes" to that question, then you have found the right stager and made a very good investment.

We invite you to take some time and visit some of the other chapters on this website and learn about home staging. The more you know, the better staging choices you can make. We suggest you start at our Home Page and work through the chapters on Preparing a Home for Sale, Clean, Organize and Declutter, and Design to Sell Fast! to get a comprehensive look at the steps in home staging. Welcome! We're glad you're here!

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