Setting the Stage

From the beginning of this project, I knew I wanted to stage the house for sale. Because we moved everything out, the house is empty. Empty houses do not sell for as much as furnished ones, partly because buyers don't have as much imagination as you might think. They find it hard to envision how furniture will fit into an empty house, and perhaps more than that, the find it hard to desire a home that doesn't already paint a picture of home.

If you're not familiar with staging houses, the best way I can describe it is that it's a form of lifestyle marketing for homes. If the house is empty, you fill it with furniture and accessories that set the stage for the kind of lifestyle your target buyers would like to have. If the house is furnished, the stager moves around and edits the furnishings to create an attractive look.

Originally I wanted to do the staging myself, but we didn't have enough furniture to work with, and the rental furniture I found was nothing I'd use for staging. That's why I asked our realtor for a recommendation. (I think she was relieved that she never had to sell me on the concept—I knew the statistics already on how well properly staged homes sell.)

The secret of great stagers is partly that they are good designers, but also that they have a lot of suitable inventory. By inventory, I mean furniture, lamps, pictures, rugs, bedding, vases, coffee table books…all the things you need for a finished look. Lots of people are interested in staging as a career (I was once, too) but I think it's harder to ramp up just because you have to buy a ton of stuff—then store it. If this is a sustainable business, you need enough inventory to stage multiple homes at once, sand you need to replenish that inventory as decorating trends change.

Which is why I met with Brett today. We walked through the house and talked about what would be needed to stage it properly. We had some furniture and lamps in the garage, as well as some curtains still in packages, that he could use. We decided to make the third bedroom into an office and use a bookcase, chairs, and desk that Kathy already had. But the other two bedrooms, the living room, and dining room—as well as all the accessories for the kitchen and bath—will be supplied by Brett. We got along well and I'm confident that he'll do a great job with this; no way would I have what I needed to do it as well.

After meeting with the stager, Cindy sent me a couple blocks over to check out a house that was just listed today. It was open for previews, mostly for real estate agents, but she said they'd let me see it. I was surprised to find it was a house with an identical floor plan—but listed at $529,000, $30k over our intended asking price. (For those of you outside of California, I know these prices are shocking!)

There are a lot of differences between their house and ours. They have clearly made a lot of upgrades that are outside the scope of our makeover. They put granite countertops and custom cabinetry in the tiny kitchen. They replaced the interior doors with inset panel doors. They converted the house from wall heaters to a central furnace, which was perhaps the biggest deal. The windows were upgraded from aluminum to vinyl. Oh, and the baseboards were more substantial (yeah, I look at those things). I could see why it cost $30,000 more.

But, on the minus side…they removed a wall, and that made the floor plan a little more challenging. They didn't have a wood pellet stove. If you looked at the electrical outlets, you could see that some were blackened and that there were singe marks on the paint above. (That's alarming to me – I assume the house needs electrical work. Why they didn't replace the outlets and repaint is beyond me.) The glass of the garage back door was completely broken. And the fancy-ish bathroom was overdone and in need of repair.

I was really surprised that they didn't stage the house (it was empty) because I bet it would have made all the difference. I know, I must sound like some staging fanatic. But, with the one wall they had taken down, it was hard even for me to see how the living and dining room furniture would work in there. Plus, there was nothing to play up the fancy pants kitchen and make it look like it fit in. I could see how furniture and accessories would have made it much more desirable, perhaps even distracting from the potential fire hazard with the electrical outlets!

I was glad I saw the house because it made me feel much more confident about the pricing we chose, as well as our choices for the makeover. With this other house, it was a case where if they had any more upgrades, they wouldn't be able to make their money back on them. Even $529k was pushing the upper limit for a house that size in that neighborhood. Our upgrade are well within the realm where we should make back more than what we are investing.

I went back to our little, happy house with the butter walls and the cheerful wood pellet stove and smiled. This is going to work out. Ten more days!

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