Many homeowners whose homes are about to go on the market, would rather do it themselves than hire a professional home stager because they think they can, or they think they will save money.
Either way, it’s best to leave it up to a professional. While there a few things you can do to get the ball rolling, such as decluttering and packing away items you won’t use while the home is on the market, do you really know what to do and have the time to do it?
Recently I did an estimate for a staging of a vacant apartment in Manhattan. I was told by the real estate agent that the homeowner wanted to interview and get estimates from three stagers.
After submitting my proposal, I was told that the homeowner decided to “stage” the apartment himself.
Here I thought my competition was the other stagers, but in fact it was the homeowner himself!
While I understand homeowners’ perceived need to save money by doing it themselves, they really shouldn’t because they…
…cannot view their own home through a buyer’s eyes
…cannot view their own home objectively
…are so used to their home’s flaws, they don’t see them anymore
(I once had a client who completely forgot she put pink plastic over her smoke detector so it wouldn’t sound when she was cooking – meanwhile she passed by it every day on her way through the entry foyer!)
…don’t have a designer’s eye
…don’t have the expertise of a professional stager as to what needs to be done or not
…may not have the time or patience
…are already overwhelmed with looking for a new house and moving.
So the next time you are thinking of doing it yourself, stop and think about it and ask yourself:
Do I really know what I’m doing? Is this how I want to be spending my time?
Related post: Realtors: Do You Have the “But I Can Do It Myself” Syndrome?
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