For a variety of reasons, you may have a tough listing to sell, especially if the home is vacant or in a high price range. That's when you and your seller may need some professional help.

"It is difficult to show a vacant home well," says Mareya Burton with World Stage Design, a California company. "People walk in and they are looking for a place to hang hats. If the home is empty, and it echoes, it gives a negative vibe. Showing a room to its best potential is done with well placed and appointed furnishings."

Burton works with builders and Realtors to move property more quickly. "We go into homes for resale or spec homes and do anything from helping the homeowner with clutter to completely refurnishing the home."

Where staging can be helpful is minimizing faults and maximizing desirable elements. "For a vacant home, sometimes you walk in and think it is smaller than it is," explains Burton. "A resale home can appear dark or cluttered. Highlighting focal points can make a room feel more welcoming."

Professionals stagers such as Burton maintain a large inventory of furnishings and accessories, carry their own insurance, and have access to special resources such as art gallery or antique rentals. While some elements of interior design are employed, stagers are typically not licensed interior designers. "An interior design is customized to the needs of the person living in the home. A stager goes in and furnishes as neutrally as possible to appeal to the widest audience," clarifies Burton. "We give ideas for placement and we pick focal points."

A staging job on a $1 million home can run in the thousands of dollars and typically involves a two-month contract, and month-to-month after that, says Burton.

Is staging worth the time and expense? According to Realtor Joy Valentine it is.

"I've seen many times properties sell for 10 or 15 percent more than they would have because they were staged," says Valentine. " I stage 75 percent of the homes I sell."

To test her theory that staging does result in higher sales prices for homes, Valentine conducted an analysis of 2,772 properties that sold between March 1, 1999 and September 30, 1999 in eight cities, including Palo Alto, Sunnyvale and Los Altos to determine what effect, if any, staging had upon the net price, percentage of sales price over list price and the length of time on the market.

She found that the average DOM was 30.89, and average difference of sales price over list price was 1.6 percent in all samples, including staged and unstaged homes.

Staged homes (120 properties) specifically stayed on the market for only 13.9 days and sold at 6.32 percent over list price.

While her survey was in the height of the California sellers' market, Valentine feels that the conclusions are significant for Realtors, interior designers, prospective sellers, and buyers. "California is on the cutting edge of the staging phenomenon," says Valentine who contacted colleagues across the country with her results, "and in some other parts of the country like Dallas, but for the most part, it's being done in very few areas."

While some may sneer that staging exploits the buyer, there's also a real value to the buyer, too. Knowing what size and types of furniture complement a room can be helpful in visualizing living in the home. "Sellers and Realtors are missing the bet," says Valentine. "If the staging works, you are presenting the home the way the buyers could have it. Buyers often don't have the vision of what a home could look like and they may pay more for the property when they see what they like. Some people even buy the home the way it is staged. In the very high end properties, I've heard of buyers taking the house and the furniture."

If staging is so effective, why aren't more Realtors using it to sell homes? "The reason it isn't done is that Realtors are intimidated by sellers and afraid to lose the listing if they bear down too hard," explains Valentine.

Often staging is used as a last-ditch effort to sell an overpriced listing. By then it may be too late. " You see Realtors overpricing property out of ignorance or intimidation, or they are "buying the listing," says Valentine. "If the Realtor isn't convinced that staging adds value then they aren't going to communicate it. The Realtor is the real link. "

"Realtors have to be secure with their position as experts. It requires a strong personality and confidence to communicate with sellers," says Valentine. "They should think about their own personal feelings about walking into a vacant house, or a house with faded, dated furniture, discolored lampshades, with artwork that is too high on the walls. By contrast, walking into a place that is beautifully balanced delights the eye."

Whether you and the seller hire a professional or do the staging yourself, it's a lot of physical work, but it may well be worth the trouble to position the listing favorably from the beginning.

Published: April 24, 2002

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Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. For more articles by Blanche, click here.